The Lives We Touch
by Beccabo
Summary: When Harry Potter is assigned to Maggie Thompson's class, the young teacher takes a liking to the strange but sweet young boy. As their friendship grows through the years, she becomes drawn into his mysterious & exciting world. Sirius and OFC romance.
1. First Impressions

**The Lives We Touch**

Chapter One - First Impressions

_September 1990_

"Who do you think is actually more nervous today…you or the students?"

Maggie Thompson looked up from her desk to see her new friend and colleague Katie McNamara leaning against the doorframe of her classroom with a knowing grin. She returned Katie's smile and admitted sheepishly, "I feel like I'm five years old all over again and headed off to kindergarten. I have butterflies in my stomach and couldn't sleep at all last night. Is that normal?"

"Perfectly." The redhead assured her, moving into the classroom and seating herself on top of one of the student desk's that Maggie had neatly lined up in straight rows the day before. Glancing around the room, she added, "The room looks great and your lesson plans are on point, so you are all set. Once the kids get in here and you stand in front of them, instinct will take over and you will be fine. Trust me, it happens every year."

"What if the kids don't like me?"

Katie grinned again at her worried friend and reminded her, "You're the teacher now, Miss Thompson. It really doesn't matter if they like you or not because you have the power of pop quizzes, extra homework, and detention on your side."

"True." Maggie admitted, standing up and moving from behind her desk to sit near Katie. "But a teacher's life has to be a little bit easier if the kids like you."

"Maybe," Katie conceded and then added wickedly, "but they're more likely to shut up and listen if they fear you."

The moment the words were out of her mouth, Katie McNamara had to keep herself from laughing. Maggie Thompson was a twenty-two year old, fresh faced, blond beauty with a musical laugh and a bewitching smile who would be hard pressed to scare a mouse…let alone a ten year old troublemaker. The boys in her incoming fifth year class were more likely to fall in love with her before they would ever fear her.

"Come on," Katie said, standing up and pulling Maggie to her feet next to her. "We have a few more minutes of freedom before the first bell, so let's go get a cup of tea. It'll settle your nerves."

Maggie had to smile as she fell in step beside Katie and they headed down the hall to the staff lounge. Tea was the answer to anything that ailed you, according to every Englishman she had ever met. Growing up in the southern region of America, Maggie had rarely…if ever…used tea to sooth her nerves, but everyone she had met since moving to England five years ago to study at Oxford University swore that a soothing, hot cup of tea was nature's perfect cure all.

As the two women's heels clicked on the polished floors of the hallway that led to the staff lounge, Maggie once again looked around at her new place of employment. The primary school in Little Whinging, Surrey, was a completely nondescript building. It was a perfectly ordinary school in every way, complete with twenty equal sized classrooms, a gymnasium, library, cafeteria, and sensible playground. The suburb was a bit farther outside of London than Maggie had liked when she applied for the fifth grade teaching position, but she had instantly fallen in love with the little hamlet and, more importantly, the school's headmaster, Mr. Damien O'Rourke. So, after accepting the position, Maggie relocated herself to Little Whinging to begin her teaching career.

A career that would begin in exactly twenty minutes.

As Katie pushed open the door to the staff lounge, the pair were greeted by a deep, booming voice from within.

"Ah! Good morning Miss Thompson. Good morning, Mrs. McNamara."

Maggie and Katie both smiled up at Headmaster O'Rourke and returned his hearty greeting. The elderly British gentleman smiled down upon the two young teachers, his lips completely hidden beneath his snowy, white mustache and his bright blue eyes twinkling. "Are you here for a spot of tea before the students arrive this morning?"

Maggie nodded as Katie informed him, "We need to calm a few first morning jitters, sir."

"You're not alone." Headmaster O'Rourke informed them, nodding to the scattering of teachers already congregated in the staff lounge. He gave the newcomers a knowing look and patted Maggie on the shoulder as he said, "I would be more concerned if you didn't have a few butterflies, Miss Thompson." Winking as he gave her arm a final pat, he added quietly, "You'll do fine."

As he breezed past them back out into the hallway, Katie mimicked his wink and told Maggie, "You see…a cup of tea and some encouragement from the headmaster and those nerves will be settled in no time." Moving over to the kettle, Katie lowered her voice and nodded to a group of teachers in the corner as she said, "Those are the first and second year teachers. They live in an entirely different world than we do…their students are still small and cute and think the world revolves around their teacher."

Pulling a couple of mugs out of the overhead cupboard, she nodded to the pair of teachers sitting at the table in the middle of the lounge and continued, "Those two at the table are Mr. Cunningham and Mrs. Kwan…the fourth year teacher's. If you have any questions about your students, they are the ones to ask since they had them all last year."

Katie poured the tea into their mugs and then led them over to the empty chairs at the table they were just referring to. "Good morning, Kevin….Lucy." she chirped brightly as the pair sat down. "Have you met Maggie Thompson yet?"

After the introductions were made, Maggie realized that the small talk was over when Lucy Kwan turned to her and said, "Let me see your list, dear."

"My list?" Maggie repeated in confusion after swallowing a sip of tea.

"Your class list." Lucy explained gently, trying not to roll her eyes. "Kevin and I can tell you which students to look out for this year."

"Oh," Maggie mumbled, trying not to look embarrassed and then explained, "Well, I'd like the students to come into my classroom with a clean slate and to have my first impressions of them be my own. I don't want my view of them to be based on any reputation they may have earned before stepping into my classroom…"

The rest of Maggie's words were drowned out by the boisterous laughter erupting from Lucy Kwan and Kevin Cunningham. She glanced over at Katie and saw that she, too, was biting her lip in an attempt to keep from laughing at Maggie's pronouncement.

"Kevin, my boy, were we ever that young?" Lucy asked, wiping away the tears that had formed in her eyes as she laughed.

"Of course," he answered, smirking at Maggie through his horn rimmed glasses. "All teacher's were that young once. Fresh out of university and full of idealistic solutions that will change the world one child at a time…" Kevin reached over and patted Maggie's hand and assured her dryly, "Not to worry, my dear, it will pass."

"But I don't…"

"Don't argue, dear," Lucy said, smiling sympathetically at the naïve first year teacher. "Just trust us and hand over your list. It will make life so much easier."

Maggie spared another glance over at Katie, who nodded, and took her class list out of her pocket. She unfolded it carefully and handed it over to the two fourth year teacher's, who moved their heads closer so that they could read over the students' names together.

"Ah…Millicent Carlisle." Lucy said, peering up at Maggie. "She is a lovely girl. Very smart and so eager to please…"

"Allison Higgins tends to be a bit bossy. You'll want to put a stop to that right away…" Mr. Cunningham added as he continued to peruse the list.

"And you will certainly need a firm hand with Dexter Murphy." Lucy warned. "He is nothing more than a big bully…" she stopped mid-sentence and looked over at her colleague as she said quietly, "Kevin, she has Harry Potter in her class."

He shook his head and Maggie looked at them both in alarm. What was it about Harry Potter that made them both look so…concerned.

"Harry Potter?"

"At least they wised up and separated him from Dudley Dursley this term." Katie chimed in, taking another sip of her tea. "Dudley is on my list."

"I don't know which one of you got the better deal in that one." Kevin muttered, still shaking his head.

"What's wrong with Dudley and Harry?" Maggie asked, looking at the three faces before her.

"They're cousins." Katie answered, tucking a lock of her red hair behind her ear. "But you wouldn't know it to look at them. Dudley is a fat, over-indulged slob of a boy who steps on anyone who doesn't give in to his demands."

"Harry, on the other hand," Lucy cut in, "is a painfully shy little boy who looks as if he would fall over if the wind blew too hard."

"Well then shouldn't I be grateful to have Harry in my room instead of Dudley?"

"That depends on how you look at it." Kevin informed her. "Whereas Dudley is just a straight up spoiled brat, Harry is…"

He looked around the table for help and Lucy supplied, "Strange."

"Yes, Harry Potter is one strange boy." Katie agreed as Kevin and Lucy nodded in agreement.

"Strange in what way?" Maggie asked, puzzled by the lack of description.

"Well, that's just the thing." Katie told her. "We can't put our finger on it. This will be his fifth year at school and no one has been able to figure him out. He has a penchant for wearing ill fitting, hand me down clothes that are about four sizes too big for him, he never smiles, and he wanders around in his own little world most of the time. I even caught him muttering to himself a few times over the years."

"He won't speak to anyone unless directly spoken to." Kevin added. "And even then, you'd be lucky to get more than a one word answer out of him."

"And," Lucy said dramatically, leaning forward and lowering her voice, "Abigail Struthers swears that he turned her hair blue in his third year."

"Turned her hair blue?" Maggie scoffed as it was her turn to laugh. The serious looks on their faces were simply priceless. "How could he have done that?"

"We told you…he's strange." Kevin repeated smugly. "There is something about that boy that is just not right."

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_Later that morning..._

"Cassidy O'Brien?"

Half an hour later, Maggie stood in front of her desk in her classroom as twenty-five pairs of eyes stared back up at her. Twenty-four pairs, actually. One of the desks was empty.

"Present."

Maggie smiled at the dark hair girl who sat in the fourth row and then glanced back at the list of student names on her attendance sheet.

"Harry Potter?"

Maggie waited for the student she had already been warned about to raise his hand and make himself known. But there was no answer as Maggie looked around at the sea of young faces before her.

"Harry Potter?" she repeated, putting down her roll book. She heard the snickering begin quietly in the back of the class and get increasingly louder as the sound worked it's way around the room. Trying again, Maggie raised her voice and asked, "Has anyone seen Harry Potter?"

Twenty-four sets of eyes suddenly became very interested in the floor as Maggie scanned the room once again for the missing student. Surely the boy was not absent on his first day of school. Walking over to stand in front of the desk of Millicent Carlisle, she asked the young girl, "Millicent, have you seen Harry?"

Millicent's eyes, like every other pair in the room, were focused so intently on the floor that she gave a small jump when her teacher's voice startled her from above. Very slowly lifting her head, Maggie could have sworn the child was scared for her life as she met her teacher's gaze.

"Millicent?" Maggie repeated. "Do you know where Harry Potter is?"

Maggie could see the little girl weighing her answer very carefully before she timidly answered, "I think he's in the cloak room, Miss Thompson."

"Well, would you please go to the cloak room and tell Harry that class has begun and he is expected to be in his seat?"

Maggie was shocked when the student, who had been described to her as 'very bright and always eager to please', shook her head and looked back down at the floor. But before Maggie could inquire as to why Millicent had refused her teacher's request, a voice from the back of the room stepped in to offer clarification.

"She can't do that, Miss Thompson."

Maggie looked up to see that Malcolm Fisher was no longer looking at the floor, but was instead beaming up her with a mischievous smile on his face.

"And why is that, Malcolm?" Maggie asked, walking down the row to stand beside him. "Why can't Millicent go to the cloak room to fetch Harry?"

"Because she doesn't have the key." he answered simply, smiling up at her from underneath his mop of mousy brown curls.

"The cloak room isn't locked…"

"But the supply cupboard is, isn't it?"

Maggie turned around to see that Dexter Murphy had joined the conversation and the smile that curled upon his lips was certainly not mischievous. His smile was down right sinister.

"You do keep the supply cupboard locked, don't you Miss Thompson?" Dexter asked without even trying to sound innocent. "To keep the students from stealing your supplies?"

"Yes, but…"

"Well, then Millicent can't possibly fetch Harry because she doesn't have the key."

Maggie's eyes narrowed as she looked from Malcolm to Dexter and back again as she asked, "And why is Harry in the supply cupboard?"

Dexter shrugged as Malcolm answered, "Probably because he feels more at home in there."

Another chorus of snickers went through the classroom as Maggie hurried to her desk and pulled the supply cupboard key out of her top drawer. Twenty-two pairs of eyes followed her as she made her way back to the supply cupboard that was located in the cloak room, while Dexter and Malcolm mimicked her panicked expression and made rude noises.

"Harry?" Maggie called, unlocking the cupboard and peered inside. There, curled up on top of the packs of drawing paper and next to the extra jars of paste, was a runt of boy whose glasses overwhelmed his pale, narrow face and whose jet black hair stuck up in many different directions.

Inhaling a sharp breath, she reached out a hand to Harry and exclaimed, "Oh my God, Harry! Come out of there before you run out of air."

A pair of brilliant green eyes, full of hesitation, peered out at her from behind glasses that had been repaired with tape many times over and she noticed that his scrawny body was quivering with nervousness and uncertainty. But he took her hand nonetheless, unfurled his cramped body, and crawled out of the cupboard to stand in front of her. Even at his full height, Harry barely reached past Maggie's elbow and he was so skinny she felt as if she could wrap her entire hand around his upper arm.

"How did you get in there, Harry?" Maggie asked, looking down at him in concern.

After casting a quick glance out into the classroom at Malcolm and Dexter, his eyes dropped down to examine the laces of his shoes as he shrugged his response at her.

"Harry?" she tried again, gently placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. But his unexpected flinch caused her to remove it quickly as her eyebrows suddenly knitted together and her pink lips twisted into a frown.

After only a brief encounter, Maggie could tell that there was much more to this boy than simply a pile of pale skin and bones that were mostly hidden underneath a huge pile of rolled-up raggedy clothes. But to find out what was at the heart of his strange appearance and quiet demeanor, Maggie knew she was going to have to tread lightly and work slowly.

So, changing her tactic, she said, "Well, we were right in the middle of roll call when we noticed you were missing Harry. Would you like to follow me to your desk so that we can continue with our morning assignments?"

The boy who was much too small for his age looked up at her in confusion before he realized that he wasn't going to be punished for being found in the supply cupboard. Nodding up at his new teacher, he quietly fell into step behind her as they walked up through the rows of students toward the only unoccupied desk at the front of the room.

As Harry sat down, Maggie turned her attention once more to the class and announced brightly, "All right then everyone, we have a very busy morning ahead of us. After we review our rules, we will begin with a writing assignment and then move quickly into our mathematics lesson to see what you remember from last year."

She smiled that bewitching smile of hers down upon her class of students and continued by saying, "And after that, I think everyone will all be ready for a little break out on the playground."

As a cheer went up around the room, Maggie's eyes narrowed in on her two troublemakers as she added coldly, "Everyone, that is, except for Dexter and Malcolm…who would be more than happy to help me re-stock and rearrange the supply cupboard during recess this morning." She watched them bite back their protests as she asked, "Wouldn't you, boys?"

As both boys mumbled their "Yes, ma'am's" in Maggie's general direction, the rest of the class began to take out their tablets and pencils while she turned to mark the writing assignment on the chalkboard.

And as she turned away, Miss Maggie Thompson was almost sure that she caught the ghost of a smile appear on Harry Potter's thin lips.


	2. Lunch and Stuff

**Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to review this fic and set it as one of your favorites! I am so flattered! Here's a little more! Enjoy...**

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Chapter Two - Lunch and Stuff

_October 31, 1990_

It was one of those lazy afternoons in late October where the leaves blew around in entwined spirals and the autumn sun hovered cheerily over the village of Little Whinging. The sky was a clear, cloudless shade of blue and the grounds of the primary school were littered with fallen leaves in a broad spectrum of beautiful autumn colors. The promise of winter hung in the afternoon air, yet it was the perfect temperature; cool enough to make your nose and cheeks a pleasant pink, but warm enough to enjoy the heat on your face.

And, according to Maggie Thompson, these were the days that made going outside all the more worthwhile. It was currently a recess period and the young students of Little Whinging ran about the playground happily, having just eaten their fill of cafeteria food. All of the students, that is, except for one.

The wind swept the branches across the windows of the classroom and Maggie could feel the cool tendrils of air across her face as she sat at her desk and watched young Harry Potter pick at the measly lunch that someone had carelessly packed for him. She had watched him carefully unwrap a small, wheat roll to go along with his thin slice of cheese which, if Maggie were seeing things correctly, had a pale green tinge to it. The poor boy was serving lunchtime detention, but old bread and moldy cheese for lunch was too much of a punishment for the young teacher to take.

"Harry?"

The ten year old's striking green eyes lifted to peer up at her over his glasses as he mumbled quietly, "Yes, Miss Thompson?"

She stood up from behind her desk and smoothed out her black pencil skirt as she smiled down at him and said, "Headmaster O'Rourke set out some Halloween pastries in the staff lounge this morning and I must confess that I ate more than my fair share of them." Picking up her lunch sack from the shelf behind her desk, Maggie moved toward him and continued, "I packed myself a roast beef sandwich, crisps, and an apple for lunch, but I'm afraid that I am too full to eat them. Would you like to have my lunch?"

Harry's eyes widened in amazement and Maggie found herself wondering if his reaction was due to the quality of the menu that she had offered him…or if it was the offer itself that surprised him. He looked at her lunch bag hungrily, but then shook his head and answered quietly, "No, thank you."

"But I hate to see good food go to waste, Harry." She pressed, knowing instinctively that he would refuse her at first. "Please, take my lunch. Otherwise I will just end up throwing it out."

He looked up at her with those beautiful eyes of his as if trying to figure out if she was for real. In the two short months that Maggie had known Harry Potter, one thing that was clear to her was that he was not accustomed to random acts of kindness. And after meeting his guardians, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, on Parent Night, she could see why.

Finally deciding that her offer was real, Harry accepted the lunch bag she offered and as she walked back to her desk she could hear him tearing into it greedily. Maggie had often wondered many times since meeting young Harry if he was well nourished or even had any idea what good food tasted like. He was so scrawny and sickly looking that she could scarcely believe he resided in the same home as that whale of a cousin of his, Dudley Dursley. No one would ever think to call that young man malnourished.

But Harry never complained and that was mainly because he never said much of anything at all. He was a very bright student and often completed his work well before many of his classmates, but once he was finished he would simply put his head down and wait for his next set of instructions. Harry never passed notes to another child who sat near him, he never leaned across the aisle to engage a classmate in whispered conversation while Maggie's back was turned, and he never was caught laughing or misbehaving in the hallways.

It seemed that Harry Potter didn't have a friend in the world to talk to.

Ever observant, Maggie guessed that his hulk of a cousin had more to do with Harry's sad situation than anything. Dudley took a perverse delight in his cousin's miserable and lonely existence and often encouraged it with the cruel and callous taunts that he screamed at the smaller boy's back as he and his 'gang' chased Harry across the playground.

And that was the reason why Harry was sitting inside on this beautiful Halloween afternoon.

Maggie had to keep her lips from curling into a smile as she thought back to the previous day's recess period when Allison Higgins came hurtling toward her at a full sprint. The girl was bursting with the news that Harry Potter was up on the roof of the school and no one knew how it happened…

"One minute, Dudley and Malcolm and Dennis were chasing him around the swings and the next minute, he was gone!" Allison's eyes were as wide as saucers as she pulled her teacher across the schoolyard. "The next thing we knew, Millicent saw him sitting on the roof! It was like magic!"

Of course the magic faded away once Harry was retrieved from the roof and given detention for refusing to tell the Headmaster how he had managed to climb on top of the school the way that he did.

Her smile changed to a frown at the memory as Maggie headed away from her desk and wandered over to the window to peer out at the children on the playground. Turning back to Harry, she decided to end the silence that had enveloped the room for the last ten minutes.

"I overheard Dudley telling Malcolm about his Halloween costume this morning." Maggie began, leaning against the radiator beneath the windows, "It sounds very colorful. Are you dressing up to go trick-or-treating tonight?"

Harry, his mouth full of sandwich, simply shook his head and never bothered to look up at his teacher.

But Maggie was not dissuaded and tried again, "So you'll be staying home to give out candy then?"

Again, Harry shook his head as he shoved a few crisps into his already full mouth. The boy ate as if he hadn't seen food in days…and a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told Maggie that she might be closer to the truth than she wanted to admit.

"I love Halloween." The blond teacher confessed, ignoring the fact that Harry was trying desperately to ignore her. "It's one of my favorite holidays. Of course, it may have to do with the fact that I am hopelessly addicted to chocolate." She winked at him when he finally looked up her, which caused Harry to blush and concentrate once again on his sandwich. Maggie swallowed a chuckle that rose up within her at his reaction and kept trying to get through to him. "A friend of mine from the university is having a Halloween party at her flat in London, so I am glad that Halloween fell on a Friday this year."

She moved away from the window and walked closer to Harry's seat as she told him, "I am dressing up like a witch for the party. I found a marvelous purple witch's hat at a thrift shop in the village that has miniature bats and spiders all over it and I am going to wear it with a sparkly cloak that twirls around me in a most dramatic fashion. I can't wait!"

Knowing that she was beginning to sound like a giggly schoolgirl, Maggie finally wandered back over to her desk and picked up a book that had nothing to do with any of the lessons that she taught the class.

"I got the idea for my costume from this book that my niece introduced me to." Maggie held up the book for Harry to see as she explained, "It's called _The Cauldron Chronicles _and is about a young girl who finds out that she comes from a long line of witches. The story follows this girl as she learns about her powers and discovers this fascinating community of wizards and witches." Grinning at her young student as she flipped through the book, she admitted sheepishly, "I am hopelessly addicted to this book. It is such a fascinating work of fiction."

She waited a few moments longer and when she still got no response from Harry, Maggie finally gave up and sat down in her chair to grade her stack of never-ending paperwork.

"Do you believe in that stuff?"

Maggie could hardly believe her ears as her pen stopped mid-sentence and she looked over at the boy who had never said more than two words to her before.

"What stuff is that, Harry?" she asked gently, surprised that her opening into Harry Potter's world came from some ramblings about a Halloween costume.

"Witches and wizards." Harry said quietly, not yet meeting her eyes. "Do you believe that they exist?"

Maggie considered his question thoughtfully before answering honestly, "I never really thought about it before." She sighed as she rested her chin on her upturned palm and mused, "I guess that's what happens when you get older, Harry…you stop thinking about things like magic and witches." She watched the young man's face intently as he considered her answer before she added, "But I suppose, now that I am thinking about it, it is pretty selfish for us to believe that only people who are like us inhabit this big planet. There is definitely enough room in this world for wizards and witches, too."

"Yeah." Harry agreed and for the second time in their brief relationship, Maggie thought she saw the beginnings of a smile play across his face.

Encouraged by his response, Maggie leaned forward at her desk and, with her eyes twinkling, asked, "Would you like to know a secret about me, Harry?"

He masked the look of surprise that came across his face quickly as he nodded his response.

"I keep having this bizarre dream that I once saw a man turned into a rat."

This time it was not the beginnings of a smile that crossed Harry's face, but a real, full fledged toothy smile. "A rat?" he repeated, trying not to laugh at his teacher's admission.

"I know it sounds strange," Maggie agreed, glad to have his full attention, "but the dream is so real. It started about ten years ago when I was visiting my aunt in London and I have had it many times over the years."

"Who turned the man into a rat?" Harry wondered aloud, completely intrigued by her story.

"I don't know." she admitted. "But the dream always starts the same…I am walking down the street with my auntie and suddenly everyone around us is screaming. Everyone begins running and I see these two men standing in the middle of the street. One is tall and has hair about your color and the other one is short and plump…he reminds me a bit of your cousin Dudley, now that I think of it."

Harry giggled in spite of himself and Maggie thought it was the most wonderful sound in the world. And since he was hanging on her every word, she continued.

"The short, plump man was doing the yelling and the tall, dark man was laughing…just laughing at him as if he had heard the funniest joke ever. And then suddenly, there was this huge explosion…like fireworks, except there weren't any pretty colors. Everything was dusty and dirty and I could feel it tickling the back of my throat. But through the smoke, I saw the fat, little man shrink…like a melting ice sculpture…and turn into a rat."

"What happened to him?" Harry breathed, his half-eaten apple forgotten about. "The rat, I mean."

Maggie grinned and told him, "That's the strange part. In my dream, he looks right at me and waves his paw before disappearing down a sewer grate."

"And what about the tall man?"

"I don't know." Maggie said again. "That's where the dream ends. Sometimes I see fuzzy pictures at the end of the dream of men in long dresses coming down the street, but I always seem to wake up before I can figure out what it all means."

"Maybe he was a wizard." Harry suggested.

"Who?"

"The man who turned into a rat."

Once again, Maggie studied his curious little face before she broke out into another smile and agreed, "Maybe he was. So, I guess I do believe in wizards and witches…in my dreams, anyway."

But before Harry could say anything else, the bell signaling the end of recess sounded and students began trickling back into the classroom. As he moved toward the waste basket to throw away the remains of her lunch, Harry passed quietly by Miss Thompson's desk and whispered so that only she could hear,

"Thank you, Miss Thompson…for lunch and stuff."


	3. Magnolia

**I had a little trouble uploading my documents this weekend, which is why these chapters are coming so close together! These were all written, but I had to get to another computer to upload them! These next two stories are simply to move the story along a little and get a little background info on Maggie.**

**Thanks again for the reviews! I love feedback!**

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Chapter Three – Magnolia

_June 1991_

"…_we found the home at 4 Privet Drive was well maintained, tidy, and very well suited to the needs of two growing boys. The refrigerator and pantry were well stocked with food and there were no traces of insects or vermin infesting the home. The guardians, though a bit uptight and nervous during our visit, were pleasant and answered all questions to our satisfaction. Therefore, after completing our investigation into the mistreatment of Harry Potter, we have seen no reason to remove the boy from his relative's care. It is possible that his small stature and withdrawn personality are lingering side effects of losing his parent's at such a young age…"_

Maggie clutched the report from Children's Protective Services tightly in her hands as she read it over for the hundredth time. Were they blind? She had never even been to the Dursley's home and could tell that something was not right with that family. But there it was…in black and white. Maggie's last chance to save Harry from a lifetime of mistreatment and neglect. She had done everything that Child Services had told her to do…she collected evidence, she made the phone calls, and she trusted in the system. But the system had let her down. And it let Harry down.

And now it was out of her hands.

Yesterday had been the last day of term and Harry Potter was no longer her student. For all intents and purposes, he was someone else's problem from now on. But the flaw in that theory was that no one else seemed to see what Maggie saw. He had spent five years at Little Whinging Primary School and she had been the first to report that he may be an abused and neglected child. The teachers before her had labeled him "strange" and then bowed to society's pressures to mind their own business and allow others to live their own lives.

Maggie crumpled up the report and hurled it angrily across the room before burying her face in her hands as she tried not to cry.

"It won't do any good, Miss Thompson." The stern looking woman from Child Services told her when she had filed her report. "Just looking at the address, Privet Drive is a nice neighborhood."

"Children can't be neglected in nice neighborhoods?" Maggie had bit back tightly, glaring at the woman angrily.

"Proving neglect in children who come from good homes can be a tedious task. If the guardians can show that the child in question is adequately provided for in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, there is normally no further investigation." The woman responded as she glanced through the paperwork that Maggie had filled out. "And you have not reported any physical abuse…there is nothing in here about bruises or other physical injuries except for the scar on his forehead."

"Just because scars are not visible does not mean they have not been inflicted…"

But the stern looking woman had been right. There was simply not enough solid proof of mistreatment to have Harry removed from his aunt and uncle's care. Because, apparently, her gut instinct was not enough evidence to warrant a proper investigation. And now he was gone.

"You did everything you could." Her friend and colleague, Katie McNamara, had reassured her when Maggie had first received the report. "I saw you with him…on the playground and in the hallways. Harry was talking to you…in complete, whole sentences! That's never happened before. He trusted you. You made a difference in his life."

But it wasn't enough. Maggie was sure of it.

She glanced around her empty classroom and allowed her eyes to rest upon the desk in the front row where Harry had spent the last eight months of his life. That small wooden structure had become like a sanctuary for him. For eight months out of an entire lifetime.

No, it wasn't enough.

Standing up suddenly, she grabbed her keys and headed out the classroom door.

"For the last five months, I have been doing it the government's way." Maggie muttered to herself as she walked briskly to her car and ignored the strange looks she received from the teacher's she passed along the way. "Now, we are going to do this the Maggie Thompson way."

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"Drive past the park and turn left on Magnolia."

Maggie squinted down at the hastily written notes she had scribbled when she stopped at a nearby market for directions to Privet Drive. Glancing back up at the street sign, she grimaced and shook her head in disgust.

"Magnolia Drive? Or Magnolia Crescent?" she muttered to herself, slowing her little, red car down to a crawl as she scanned the streets on either side of her. Little Whinging wasn't that big, so how on earth could she be so lost? "God, I hate the suburbs."

Coming to the end of Magnolia Crescent, Maggie made a calculated guess to turn right…and thankfully ended up on Privet Drive.

The longest day of the year, and unfortunately the hottest as well, was heading toward a captivating climax on Harry's street. There was a slight summer's breeze that swept down and about the street, disturbing tree branches and making paper bags and other bits of trash scuttle across the dusty roadway. But although the breeze seemed useful for relieving the surrounding area of unwanted garbage, it did not seem capable of driving away the incessant heat.

The children on Privet Drive could be found swimming or running through sprinklers throughout the neighborhoods, providing them with some relief from the day's heat. Parents lounged about their pools while watching the children play or idly fanning themselves on shady front porches, where the view of their offspring was unobstructed.

Somehow, it did not surprise her in the slightest to see no sign of Harry Potter.

Parking her car outside of Number 4 Privet Drive, Maggie peered up at the large, square home that looked just like every other large, square home on the block. At first glance, she would have to agree with the children's services workers…everything looked normal on the outside.

Suddenly realizing that she had left school without a plan for getting inside to see Harry, she scanned the confines of her car until her blue eyes came to rest upon the latest copy of _The Cauldron Chronicles_. Grabbing the book, Maggie exited her car and headed up the walk.

She knocked on the front door about five times before it swung open and a thin, mousy woman stared out at her coldly. Petunia Dursley cocked an eyebrow at her unwanted guest and drawled thinly, "Yes?"

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Dursley." Maggie began in her most charming voice, pasting a wide smile on her pink lips. "My name is Maggie Thompson." There was no flash of recognition on the woman's thin face, so Maggie explained, "I was Harry's teacher this term." Still no response. "We met on Parent's Night back in September."

"Yes, Miss Thompson," Petunia finally said, looking at the younger woman warily. "I remember. What can I do for you?"

"I'm here to see Harry."

The long necked woman blanched visibly as she repeated in horror, "Here to see Harry?"

"Yes, ma'am." Maggie said, holding out her copy of The Cauldron Chronicles. "I forgot to give him this gift yesterday and I wanted to…"

"You have a gift for Harry?"

"Yes, ma'am." The blond teacher repeated, looking at Mrs. Dursley strangely. The woman acted as if she had just announced that she was here to give Harry a poisonous snake instead of a book. "An end of term gift. For Harry."

"Dudley didn't receive an end of term gift." Petunia informed her, letting her eyes run over Maggie's crisp blouse, tailored skirt, and designer shoes.

"Dudley wasn't in my class, Mrs. Dursley. I only got gifts for the students who were in my classroom." Maggie fibbed, beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny. "But I forgot to give Harry his and so…"

"I will give it to him." Petunia slid the door open further and reached out for the book.

But Maggie was too quick and pulled it out of Harry's aunt's grasp as she explained patiently, "I would prefer to give it to him myself." Eyeing Mrs. Dursley warily, she asked, "Is Harry home?"

"He's sleeping." came the curt response.

"Sleeping?" Maggie repeated, raising her eyebrow. "In the middle of the afternoon on the first day of summer holiday?"

"Yes, he's…"

But Petunia Dursley never got the chance to finish her explanation because at that moment, just beyond her right shoulder, the subject of the two women's conversation came into view.

"Harry?" Maggie asked in shock and anger. "Did you just come out of that cupboard beneath the stairs?"

Harry, more than a little surprised to see his teacher standing at the door to his house, blinked in disbelief and then looked up at his aunt in alarm. Petunia recovered quickly and answered hastily, "Of course he didn't, don't be silly." She turned back to Maggie and moved to block her view into the house as she added quickly, "Harry was simply putting the broom and dustpan away for me…"

"You just told me he was sleeping." Maggie reminded her, narrowing her eyes at the horse-faced woman.

"Well, he was." Petunia answered. "And before he fell asleep, I asked him to put the broom and dustpan away for me when he awoke, so…" She finally brought her eyes up to meet Maggie's angry ones and faltered a bit as she finished, "…and so that is what he was doing. Putting the broom and dustpan away. In the cupboard under the stairs."

The young teacher did not believe a word that came out of the woman's mouth and was sure that fact was written all over her face as she continued to glare at Harry's guardian. Coldly, she told the woman, "I would like to come in and see Harry."

"Well, I wasn't really expecting visitor's today," Petunia spluttered, her face turning a bright shade of pink, "and the house isn't really clean or…"

"I'm not here to see you or your house." Maggie retorted, sticking her foot in the door to keep Mrs. Dursley from closing it in her face. "And since we both know that Harry is awake now, the mannerly thing for you to do is to invite me inside."

"The mannerly thing to do?" Petunia repeated, staring at Maggie in shock. And then, as if she had been smacked in the head by a book of manners, Mrs. Dursely smiled falsely and said, "Of course, Miss Thompson. Please come in. I don't know where my manners are."

As she stepped over the threshold into the house, Maggie had the distinct impression that had she not been a respected teacher in the community who gossiped with other respected teachers in the community then Maggie would still be standing out on the stoop.

"Mind your shoes." Petunia ordered, standing back with that tight smile of hers still plastered on her face. Maggie slipped off her heels, and followed the woman into the kitchen where Harry and Dudley were seated at a large square table.

"Mummy!" The pig faced boy exclaimed as the two women entered the room. "That's Harry's teacher! What's she doing here?"

"Yes, I know Duddykins." Petunia answered tightly, her eyes never leaving Maggie. "Miss Thompson is here to see Harry."

"To see Harry?" Dudley echoed, a wicked smile crossing his face. "What's he done?"

"Harry hasn't done anything wrong." Maggie said before Petunia could open her mouth to speak. Smiling warmly at Harry, she added, "I have a present for him."

"A present for Harry?" The large boy asked, as if someone doing something nice for his cousin were a foreign concept to him.

"Duddykins, why don't we go to the bakery and buy you some cakes for tonight's dessert?" Petunia suggested, still watching Maggie closely.

"Chocolate cakes?"

"Anything that you want." she answered her son, picking up her handbag and practically running back out into the hallway. "Come along, Dudley." Looking back at Maggie, she nodded curtly and said, "You can let yourself out when you are finished with your visit?"

"Of course." Maggie said to the Dursley's retreating backs. And without another word to Harry, they were gone. "Nice meeting you, too." she muttered before turning back to her former student and smiling brightly, "So, Harry…"

"I can't believe she let you in." he breathed, looking at her in amazement.

"What was she going to do?" Maggie asked with a chuckle. "Leave me out on the stoop?"

"Yes." Harry answered simply.

"Well, I can be a very forceful woman when I want to be." The young teacher assured him. "Do you mind if I sit down, Harry?"

Harry stood up and pulled out one of the plastic kitchen chairs for her and Maggie took a seat next to him at the table. Pushing the book in front of him, she said, "I brought this for you."

"Why?"

"I thought you might like to read it over the summer." Maggie told him, and then pulled the book back and opened the front cover. "And right here, inside, I am going to put my telephone number so that you can call me to discuss the book. Or," she looked up at him pointedly and added softly, "we can talk about anything. Anything at all."

"Thank you, Miss Thompson." Harry said quietly, staring down at the numbers that she had written on the corner of the book's title page. "I'll put this somewhere safe…where Dudley can't find it." When Maggie looked at him curiously, he clammed up and stammered, "I mean, so that he doesn't try to call your house as a joke."

"Right." Maggie agreed, not fully believing him. Changing the subject, she smiled again and asked, "So, what are your plans for the summer Harry?"

"I don't really make plans, Miss Thompson." He answered honestly. "I'll probably just hang around here and wait for the school term to start in the fall."

"Which secondary school will you be attending?"

"Stonewall High."

"Well, that's a good school." Maggie replied, trying to say something encouraging. "I know some of the teachers there. They are very good."

"Not as good as you." He replied shyly, still clutching the book she had given him. Turning beet red, it was his turn to change the subject as he asked hastily, "And what are you doing this summer?"

Maggie sighed and answered, "I am going home to America for the summer. My sister is getting married later this summer and all of our family is gathering back in my hometown parish in Louisiana a few weeks before the wedding." She rolled her eyes comically as she added sarcastically, "It should be wonderful. All my crazy relatives in one central location…"

"You grew up in America?" Harry asked in surprise. "What are you doing here in Surrey?"

"My Aunt Sarah lives in Godric's Hollow." Maggie explained, her eyes beginning to twinkle. "I love Aunt Sarah…she's a real pistol. I used to spend many of my summer's with her and one year…when I was about 12...I spent the whole year with her and went to a fancy private school in London. I absolutely loved it and knew that I had to come back someday. So, when I began looking at colleges, I applied to Oxford and they accepted me. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Do you miss your family in America?"

"Sometimes." she admitted honestly. "But I talk to them all the time on the telephone and I go home to Louisiana for Christmas and every summer, so I get to see them pretty much. And at Easter, they all came here to see me in Surrey. It was nice to have them here in my world for a few days."

"Is your family big?"

"Pretty big, compared to most families." Maggie answered, curious at his sudden interest in her family life. "I have two older brothers, one younger brother, and an older sister. Plus, my grandmother lived with us when I was growing up, so our house was pretty full. And noisy." She chuckled as continued, "Sometimes I think that I moved all the way to England just so that I could finally have some space and time to myself."

Harry smiled sadly and nodded as Maggie continued, "I don't think my parents were happy about me moving across an entire ocean all by myself, but they've been really supportive. I can still hear my mother's voice in my head…" she grinned and raised her voice an octave as she imitated her mother's tone, "Magnolia Lee Thompson, you can go halfway around the world if you want to, but you can always come back home to the family that loves you whenever you need…"

"Your name is Magnolia?" Harry interrupted, looking at her in surprise.

Maggie screwed up her face into a grimace as she said, "I know…isn't it awful? That's why most people call me Maggie. Except my mom…she loves to call me 'her little Magnolia'. She told me that she used to sit out under a big magnolia tree in our yard when she was pregnant with me and that's how she came up with my name."

"Magnolia." Harry repeated, trying out this new information. Looking up at her with a smile, he said, "I like it."

"Thank you."

"My mom…" he said quietly, looking away from her. "My mom had a flower name, too." Harry brought his brilliant green eyes up to meet Maggie's and whispered, "Her name was Lily."

Maggie blinked back the tears at his obvious pain and said quietly, "That is a beautiful name, Harry." Not sure what to do next, she asked, "Do you have a picture of her?"

He shook his head and looked back down at the book she had given him, aimlessly tracing the letters of the title with his slender finger. Without thinking, Maggie reached out and put her hand over his smaller one and asked quietly, "Are you alright, Harry?"

He didn't look up at her as he nodded his head in response, but Maggie persisted. "Are you sure that there isn't anything you want to talk to me about? Anything at all?" He still refused to look at her, so she lifted her hand to put it under his chin and forced his gaze up to meet hers as she assured him, "Because you can tell me anything, Harry. And it will be just between us. I can help you if you let me."

Harry looked up at her with those beautiful eyes of his and held her gaze for a few brief moments. He looked so torn and confused and Maggie desperately wanted to wrap her arms around him and steal him away from his awful existence.

Finally he said quietly, "Aunt Petunia and Dudley will be home soon." Tearing his eyes away from hers, he stood up and said, "Thank you for the book, Miss Thompson. I will take good care of it this summer. And maybe I'll call you when I finish so that we can talk about it."

"I'd like that." Maggie said, standing up as well. He walked her to the door and before she left, she turned and said quietly, "Good Luck, Harry Potter."

As she walked back down the walk to her car, she finally allowed the tears to fall silently down her cheeks. For that was the day when Magnolia Lee Thompson learned life's hard lesson that sometimes you just can't save them all.


	4. Regrets

**Chapter Four - Regrets**

_Late September 1991_

"Good afternoon, my name is Maggie Thompson and I would like to speak to Harry Potter's homeroom teacher."

Maggie settled herself on the small sofa in the staff lounge and pulled her legs up underneath her as she waited for the woman on the other end of the telephone line to return. The teachers and students of Little Whinging's Primary School were a few weeks into the new term, yet Maggie's thoughts were still consumed with her last class of students. One student in particular.

"Harry Potter." she repeated into the phone when the secretary of St. Xavier's Academy for Young Men returned and asked her to repeat the student's name. "I was his fifth year teacher at Little Whinging and I wanted to discuss some things with his new…"

"I'm sorry, ma'am." interrupted the grandmotherly voice on the other end of line. "We do not have a student named Potter registered here at St. Xavier's."

Maggie frowned. She had heard this response many times in the last month or so. Even though this boarding school in London that many students from Surrey attended had been a long shot, she decided to give it a try. But now it seemed that she had run right into another brick wall.

"Would you mind looking under the name Dursley?" Maggie asked, trying to keep the urgency out of her tone. "Maybe they registered him under his aunt and uncle's name."

Maggie waited again and finally the voice said, "I'm sorry, miss, there is no Harry Dursley on our list. Have you tried Smelting's Academy?"

"Yes, I have." Maggie replied tightly, "Thank you." Cradling the telephone in her lap and frowning slightly, her thoughts once again turned to the small boy who had captured her attention and her heart only a year ago.

Harry Potter had stepped out of that damned supply cupboard on a bright day in September and her first thought had been at how small and frail he seemed. He was tiny and huddled protectively in baggy clothes that hung loosely from his thin frame, green eyes skirting warily behind glasses held together poorly with failing tape so they balanced crookedly on his nose. But as the year progressed, the young teacher couldn't help but marvel at Harry's unwavering resilience. Despite his small size and stature, never before had she met a child so unfazed by the constant taunts and bullying of his peers and classmates. Slowly, with a lot of patience and loving care, Maggie had been able to break into his little world as the year went on.

And now, with a new class demanding her constant time and attention, Maggie couldn't avoid the stab of anxiety in her chest. The first one had been a quick phone call, one she had debated over all summer and made before she could argue with herself once again that it was not her place. It had been the least she could do for the tiny boy she had known and hadn't seen since that sunny afternoon in June when she visited his home on Privet Drive. So she had spoken to the Headmaster of Stonewall High School at great length about her observations the previous year in the hope they would make a difference where Little Whinging had failed so unforgivably.

But the Headmaster had thanked her for her concern and assured her that there was no student by the name of Harry Potter at his school. Yes, he had been on the list to attend, but his name had been pulled at the last minute. No, there had been no explanation. Panicked suddenly, Maggie frantically scoured the records the school kept religiously, tracking back to the exclusive school Dudley had bragged he was attending. Another phone call had been made just to receive an equally puzzled response from Smeltings Academy.

And so, in the first meeting of the year, the staff of Little Whinging Primary School found themselves discussing once again the fate of a curious green-eyed boy they all remembered, and who had apparently fallen from the very face of the planet. Maggie had even gone again to the house with her friend, Katie McNamara, under the pretence of returning a lost possession of Dudley's. After listening to Katie laud Dudley's achievements to his proud parent's for several minutes, Maggie had questioned briefly after Harry…only to be greeted with a curt declaration that Harry Potter no longer lived there, and they would appreciate people not harassing them every second of the day. They had lived with him for almost eleven years now and raised him as best they could. They only hoped St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys could save the boys poor, wretched soul where they had failed.

The two teacher's had been shown the door soon after, led from the kitchen politely but with no room for argument. They were led past the walls adorned with family photos, not one of which contained even a hint of Harry; led past the small cupboard the sat under the stairs, heavily bolted from the outside as Maggie briefly wondered what could possibly be so valuable as to justify such strange storage. The door had been closed firmly behind them and Maggie had all the answers she could ever hope to receive, aware that they amounted to next to nothing. Unfounded hope led her on a brief search for the school, but to no avail. It didn't exist, and according to the Dursley's neither did Harry.

He had disappeared.

"Miss Thompson?"

Maggie looked up to see Little Whinging's Headmaster, Damien O'Rourke, standing in the doorway and smiling at her warmly. "It's nearly 5 o'clock…shouldn't you be getting home?"

Glancing briefly at the clock on the lounge wall, Maggie blushed and admitted, "I guess I lost track of time, sir. I was…"

"Still trying to locate Harry Potter?" he asked knowingly, moving further into the lounge and checking to see if the tea kettle were still warm. Seeing that it was, he poured them both a cup and sat down near her on the sofa.

"I guess I am a little obsessed, aren't I?" The young teacher asked, taking the tea cup that he offered. "But, it's just puzzling to me that no one seems to know where he is. I have called every secondary academy between here and London and none of them have a Harry James Potter registered at their school. And then those awful guardians of his told me that he is off attending a school that doesn't even exist and…"

"Sometimes the lies people let themselves believe are for their own good." The Headmaster replied, blowing on the surface of his hot tea to cool it off a bit.

"Meaning?" Maggie asked, raising her eyebrow at his odd comment.

Damien O'Rourke regarded his young employee for a moment and then answered slowly and thoughtfully, "So many children have passed through the doors of this school and I like to think, as a good Headmaster, that I remember all of them. The shy ones, who hid behind their mothers legs or curled up in their fathers protective arms; the boisterous ones, who ran in small, never ending circles with boundless energy." He smiled wryly as he continued, "The smart ones and the ones who struggled, sometimes bravely and sometimes with tears and tantrums. The short ones and the tall ones, the sweet and the mischievous…" The Headmaster looked down at her in an almost fatherly way as he said, "They were all special to me, in their own way, and they all earned themselves a special place in my memories. But, Harry Potter was another matter entirely."

He paused to take a sip of his tea and Maggie watched carefully as he took a deep breath and continued, "Everyone at this school knew of Harry Potter, although his name was spoken with a variety of emotions and inflections amongst the staff. Strange stories such as a teacher's hair turning blue were recalled with amusement that had tempered the initial annoyance and muted anger. They were laughed off as youthful exuberance in need of careful curbing lest the delinquent behavior that the Dursley's had warned us of grew out of control."

Headmaster O'Rourke stood up and moved over to the small window near the refrigerator and looked out forlornly upon the grounds of the school. Maggie took a sip of her own tea as he began again, "The stories were laughed off because we live in a society where we are accustomed to sitting back and allowing others to clean up their own messes without once having to get our hands dirty. For to do anything else might have meant that we noticed sooner, might have meant we glimpsed the obvious and blatant truth instead of the lies that were much more appealing to see. But the laughter was always slightly forced, a little louder and more raucous than justified."

He looked back at Maggie with sad eyes and, if possible, looking as if had aged twenty years in the last few moments. His voice was gruff as he said, "And so it had been with a little more trepidation than usual that, upon making out class lists for last term, I placed Harry Potter in your fifth year classroom. And that, as it turned out, made all the difference."

"But it didn't make any difference at all." Maggie said quietly, looking down into the pale amber liquid that filled her tea cup.

"Ah, Miss Magnolia, I have been an educator long enough to know a teacher who will make a difference the moment that I see them." He assured her, absently swirling his remaining tea around in his cup. "I had you pegged from the moment you nervously walked into my office for your interview. And you didn't let me down."

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand what…."

"A good Headmaster always knows what is going on in his school, even when others are not aware that he knows. From a distance, I watched you with Harry…I watched the boy come out of his shell a bit in your presence, and I even detected the hint of a smile on his face one afternoon in April. And I knew that I had finally done right by Harry Potter."

A wry smile replaced his fatherly one and he continued quietly, "It is not easy for a proud man like myself to admit that I let a child slip through the cracks. That a first year teacher, fresh out of university and young enough to be my own daughter, could have seen something in Harry that I had missed for over four years."

"But it didn't matter." Maggie said sadly, studying the Headmaster's guilt ridden face. "Because he's gone. And neither of us can do anything for him now."

"In all of my years of experience, I have never known a child to simply disappear." The elderly British gentleman told her kindly. "Harry Potter is out there somewhere. And I suspect that Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would not tell you where because, like me, you represent to them what could have been. What should have been." He looked at her pointedly and continued, "How things might have been for young Mr. Potter had they spoken more a little more kindly to him or paid a little more attention to him. And although we do not know where, I suspect that they have sent him to a place far enough away so that they do not have to deal with anymore well-meaning young teachers forcing them to face up to their lack of responsibility where Harry was concerned. And, possibly, for Harry that place is much more inviting than all his years with the Dursley's ever was."

Maggie considered his words carefully and then nodded in agreement. And as they finished their tea in silence, Maggie could only hope what wherever Harry had gone, he was somewhere a little brighter.


	5. An Unexpected Reunion

**This is where I start to merge with JK Rowling...and spin my own story at the same time! Everything that Jo has written in the first two books has happened to Harry and everything from Book 3 will happen to him. But I have put my own twist on how he gets to The Leaky Cauldron after blowing up Aunt Marge and running away! Enjoy...**

* * *

Chapter Five - An Unexpected Reunion

_Late July 1993_

Maggie wasn't sure why she always took this route to work and back home again. It wasn't exactly that far out of her way, but it was a detour. Nevertheless, every day and every evening she turned her car down Privet Drive and past the stream of houses on her way to and from the Primary school. And every day she found herself staring at the neat garden in front of number four with a mixture of guilt and shame she had never managed to dispel. The feeling was almost as much of a habit now as was the act of driving down the road itself, something which had started with a feeling of hope and longing, and which had grown into a weekly…then daily…ritual.

She was barely even looking for him anymore, the tiny little boy she had to remind herself would be a teen-ager by now. Driving down his street was more about paying a small penance for her failure, for being too late where Harry was concerned. It was coming to an inevitable end though, as she had finally gathered the courage to move on. She had stayed at Little Whinging longer than she had ever intended, had passed up numerous opportunities for promotion all because of a gut feeling that she just couldn't leave, not until she _knew_.

There came a point where she just couldn't stay any longer, when she realized that it was time to let Harry go and to accept that there were some things in which she would just have to live in ignorance. Until that day, however, she would continue to drive those extra couple of blocks over so she could pass his street.

Her friend Katie had referred with good nature to her habits as an unhealthy obsession. But the more Maggie looked back on that year with Harry, the more she became convinced it was not. It was more than that. Something in the boy had called to her, something she had been blind to when it could have made a difference, and against all logic the call seemed only to have grown louder without his quiet presence. It was something she couldn't dismiss, something that defied nature itself, something that left her feeling inexplicably tied to the small boy, indebted in a way she couldn't shake. She owed him for her failure, and it had gnawed at her until fleeing had seemed the only option left. It was that or go mad.

Besides, Maggie rationalized to herself as she turned left onto Magnolia Crescent, she barely even looked at the street she drove down any more, passing as if in a trance from one end to the other.

Which was why when the thin boy dragging an extremely large trunk collapsed against a wall on the side of the road, she barely blinked, watching with mild disinterest as her car drew closer to the fated wall. With the window down to let in the breeze, Maggie could hear a familiar voice muttering softly as her car slowly drew level, barely idling now as the noise from the street dimmed and faded into the background and the boy looked up with those eerily familiar green eyes boring straight into hers.

_Harry Potter._

Maggie's head snapped back round violently as her car mounted the curb, grazing a trash bin and sending its metal lid crashing to the concrete pavement, stopping the last of the vehicle's momentum as a part of her brain remembered to knock it out of gear and pull on the hand brake with shaking hands and a series of loud clicks before they rested on the steering wheel.

"Excuse me, are you all right?" Harry was tapping gently on the window and he stepped back as Maggie pulled the latch so the door swung outwards, pushing herself upright and blinking quickly in case the boy should disappear from right in front of her, to be swallowed into the ground before her very eyes.

"Harry?"

"Miss Thompson?" The boy looked both guarded and surprised as he spoke, but his words were not unfriendly.

Maggie took a deep breath to collect her thoughts, running a trembling hand through her golden hair, which she hastily tucked behind her ear.

"I didn't know if you would remember me," she said finally, with a small smile. The statement was met with an awkward silence, as Harry flushed an unexpected and deep shade of red, his gaze flickering anxiously at something across the street before resting on his feet.

"Of course I remember," he mumbled softly, looking up with a small smile through his wayward dark fringe. "You were nice to me.'

Maggie couldn't help the smile, although the happiness the comment gave her lasted only a moment before something far more fundamental occurred to her.

"You're still here? In Little Whinging?" The question came out harsher than she had intended, more of an accusation than anything else.

"Where else would I be?" Harry shrugged, unperturbed by her outburst.

_She had only hoped he had gone somewhere a little brighter._

He hadn't actually gone anywhere at all.

"I came back," Maggie blurted out, a sudden gust of wind blowing her hair back across her face as she swiped at it irritably. "After you left."

The flush was back as Harry looked decidedly awkward at the statement and the words behind it that remained unspoken. "I contacted Stonewall High that fall because I wanted to warn them, make sure they knew you were…"

She wanted to say _special_, and for some reason bit back the words as they rose in her throat.

"They said you were pulled out," she finished pathetically instead.

"My Aunt and Uncle decided to send me somewhere else at the last minute," Harry told her and if the boy had looked embarrassed before, now Harry was painfully and obviously uncomfortable.

"They claimed you were gone," Miss Morrison told him as Harry rubbed the back of his neck, looking for an answer he didn't want to give. She wondered how many people, if any, he had ever really spoken to about this, although she already knew the answer. This was the first and last time he would acknowledge or speak openly about it, as if he were compelled by the same spell she was sure dragged her repeatedly back to this place, tied by the same childish longing he had once placed in one of the few people who had seen him as anything but a troublemaker or waste of space. "Mrs. McNamara and I called on the house and your Aunt said you had been sent to some school for the criminally insane that didn't actually exist. I figured…hoped, actually…that someone had finally taken you away from The Dursleys and they were just covering their tracks."

"Someone did take me away," Harry verified, and he grinned wistfully as he said it. "An old friend came and rescued me."

"Did he take you somewhere brighter?"

It was a stupid question, and she blushed as soon as she asked it, aware of how banal it sounded. There was no denying the smile that lit Harry's face though.

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "He did."

"But you're back." Maggie seemed only able to state the obvious this evening.

"The Dursleys are my family." It obviously pained him to say it and Maggie felt the familiar tugging of her heart strings.

"Then what are you doing out here at this time of night?" she asked pointedly, glancing down at his trunk. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I don't know, actually. I just…" The uncomfortable look was back again, as it seemed Harry was hovering on the verge of blurting something much deeper. But instead he admitted, "I need to go to London."

"What's in London?" Maggie pressed, not sure what to make of the situation. "Your school?"

Maggie didn't like the look on Harry's face as he seemed to be searching for an answer to her simple question. Finally, he blurted, "I'm meeting some friends in London. We're going on holiday before we go back to school."

"Where in London?"

"The Leaky Cauldron." Harry said quietly, looking up at her guiltily. "Have you heard of it?"

Maggie searched her memory before she shook her head and said, "Can't say that I have. Is it a restaurant?"

"Sort of." He said, looking down again…but not before Maggie caught a small smile spread across his face.

Leaning back against her car, Maggie folded her arms over her chest and asked skeptically, "And are you planning on walking all the way to London?"

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," he admitted, looking at her guiltily. And once again he looked as if he wanted to say more, but instead looked back down at his trunk.

He wasn't going to ask the question, so Maggie knew she was going to have to offer. Smiling at his ever present shyness, she asked quietly, "Harry, would you like a ride to London?"

"With you?" He asked, raising his head suddenly and looking at her in surprise.

"Do you see anyone else here?"

To her surprise, Harry allowed his eyes to scan the deserted street before he shook his head and grinned up at her. "Would it be too much trouble?"

"If it was, I wouldn't have offered." Maggie reassured him. "But your Aunt and Uncle…"

"Don't care," Harry interrupted. "They'll be happy to get rid of me and even happier that they don't have to drive me themselves. Besides, I won't tell them if you won't."

Maggie, against her better judgment, reached around and opened the door to the backseat of her car as she said, "Let's get your trunk."

Together, Harry and Maggie lifted his surprisingly heavy trunk up off the ground and stowed it away safely in the backseat of her small car.

When they were both safely buckled into the front seat, Maggie began to steer the car toward London and they fell into a comfortable silence.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, Harry." She finally said, looking over at him in the darkness of the evening.

"You did more for me than most people," Harry said with a smile and an undertone of bitterness that wasn't aimed at her. "Really, it's nice just to know someone cared." And with his words it seemed that something in Maggie's chest loosened its hold on her, as though he had cut away the thing that had tied her down, leaving her freer than she had felt in a long time. "You did all you could."

"I could have done more, but the…"

"Miss Thompson, look out!"

Maggie slammed her foot on the brake and the car jerked to a sudden stop. She turned to check on Harry, but he was distracted by a pair of pale yellow eyes staring back at them from the middle of the road. They belonged to a dog, and a very large one at that. The dog's tongue was hanging out of its mouth and it was panting with exhaustion.

""Th-that black dog...I saw that dog," Harry breathed, simply staring at the black canine through the front windshield of Maggie's car. "He was on Privet Drive when I left the house. It's like he's following me…"

Maggie dismissed Harry's foolishness with a chuckle and followed his gaze until it rested on the dog. And then it suddenly cocked its head to the left and fixed its ears, as though better to follow the two of them with it's eyes. Now that Harry mentioned it, the dog did seem to be watching them. She couldn't quite prove it because every time she looked at him, he moved his head to gaze out someplace else.

"Why isn't it moving out of the way?" Harry wondered aloud. "Don't the headlights scare him?"

"I don't know," Maggie replied, studying the dog intently. "Maybe it's hurt," Opening her driver's side door, she moved to get out of the car but looked back at Harry and warned, "Stay in the car."

With cautious footsteps, she approached the mangy black mutt who seemed to watch her every move. But he didn't snarl or move to attack her, so Maggie knelt down next to the animal and whispered, "What do we have here?"

The dog raised up so that she could see him more clearly. He wasn't so menacing up close, though he did look rough and his eyes seemed worn. Stroking his neck, she murmured, "Hmm, no collar. Poor thing, you look half starved!"

The dog whimpered and looked at her so intensely that Maggie sat back on her heels and was unable to hold back the shudder that raced up her spine. And then just as suddenly as he had appeared, the dog disappeared into the darkness.

Maggie looked back at Harry, who was watching the scene very closely from his seat in the passenger seat of her car. He shrugged and she stood up to walk back to him. Settling back into the front seat, she smiled at him and said, "Well, that was strange," Putting the car back into gear, Maggie continued on down the road as she asked, "Now where exactly is this Leaky Cauldron place?"


	6. Lost In London

Chapter Eight - Lost in London

_July 1996_

Maggie Thompson was lost. Not that she would admit it to anyone except herself, but she was utterly, hopelessly, and completely lost. She had been following her friend, Alyssa Burns, through the jostling crowds of inner city London, but had, as usual, been distracted by something off to one side. When she had finally remembered to look back at Alyssa, her friend was gone.

It was easy to get lost in London. The city is huge and made up of so many smaller communities that it's simple to just disappear. If someone is unfamiliar with it's inner workings, as Maggie was, it could be nearly impossible to find your way around. Fortunately, Maggie didn't know the meaning of the word impossible and stubbornly refused to admit defeat. Glancing back down at her small handheld map, she prepared to spend as much time as was necessary trying to find something familiar to her.

She had lived in this city for over a year now and probably should have been more diligent in learning the parameters of her new surroundings. Little Whinging was so much easier to navigate and she found herself missing the simplicity of the sleepy suburb.

Chastising herself for being so distractible and so utterly naïve, Maggie continued to roam the streets of London as she tried to figure out the scribbled note that Alyssa had given her with the address to her flat. The more and more she squinted at the slip of paper and tried to look at it in different ways, the more it seemed to say something like _havjillñeeu_…

Panic crept in slowly while the young teacher still clung to the hope that perhaps Alyssa was merely a few feet in front of her, hidden by the crowds. The panic increased as her hope diminished with every passing step she took and there was still no sign of her friend. She silently cursed, eyes roving the faces of all who passed, trying to seek out someone friendly enough to ask for directions. If all else failed, she thought rationally, she would go back to the restaurant where they had eaten an early supper and wait for Alyssa to come find her.

But the afternoon sun was already beginning to sink and the moon was rising as the cool summer night's air made her quiver, her hair dancing in the breeze as her skirt blew unceremoniously around her bare legs. Maggie turned off the main road and onto a side street as the street lights flooded on, giving off a pale yellow light that made everything look more dangerous and the shadows look even more ominous. At this, the blond teacher looked around to take in her surroundings. Her piercing violet gaze saw nothing of too much interest.,,,a few abandoned houses with boards covering the windows, a raucous bar on the corner, and a street sign with the words _Grimmauld Place_ hanging directly above her.

"Dammnit!" She swore loudly, drawing the attention of several passers-by. She smiled apologetically, hoping someone would be nice enough to ask her why she was cursing. No one did.

The road named Grimmauld Place was nearly deserted, save for a tall man standing about halfway down the street and who looked to be wearing a long cloak and hood in the middle of summer.

"Excuse me?" Maggie asked in a squeak of a voice when the cloaked man was within earshot. "Can you help me?"

The man just stood there and it was impossible to see who he was, as the hood hung far down in front of his face. Maggie suddenly got an incredibly eerie feeling. It was if someone besides the stranger were watching her…something powerful and deadly at the same time. The night felt suddenly and unnaturally dark and sinister, as Maggie's trembling hand clutched her shoulder bag at her hip to keep it from rebounding.

"I seemed to have taken a wrong turn somewhere," she said, figuring that since she had already approached the man it would seem weird if she simply turned and walked away from him. "I need to get back to Copenhagen Street, but I think that I turned off too soon and…"

She stopped mid-question when she realized that the figure was breathing awfully harshly. If Maggie didn't know any better, she could have sworn the person was having some sort of an asthma attack. The hooded figure nodded his head and suddenly something that greatly resembled a wand appeared from within the folds of the cloak and was pointed at her chest.

"Keep moving," the figure snarled at her and Maggie caught a glimpse of wisps of platinum blond hair escaping from his hood.

Stumbling backwards, Maggie turned and ran as fast as she could in her fancy heels. Jumping a nearby curb, her feet slapped upon the damp concrete and the sound repeated itself like a homing beacon. An eerie mist smothered what lights illuminated the street and gave the surrounding buildings an ethereal appearance as she ran briskly through the drifting haze. Quickening her pace, Maggie would have given anything to see something, someone, any sign of life. She could hear voices, distant calls like rebellious children and disappointed parents as the stars shone lightly above her and a faint strip of moonlight escaping the scattered cloud cover.

Emerging from around a bend, Maggie finally saw a young man as he casually strolled along with his large, black dog. His face was obscured in the shadow of overhangs and he seemed to be chatting away with his dog as his indecipherable yet accented voice carried on the wind.

"Miss Thompson?"

The broken street lights above him made suddenly made the young man's face visible and it looked surprisingly tired for his age. But aside from that small detail, Maggie knew without hesitation that she was looking into the face of Harry Potter.

"Harry!"

Maggie slowed down as she reached him and threw her arms around his neck without thinking.

"Miss Thompson?"

The confusion in Harry's voice jerked Maggie back to reality and she quickly let go of the hold she had on her former student as she stepped back from him. As his dog growled protectively down by his side, Maggie couldn't hide her deep blush as she stammered out an apology.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she mumbled, eyeing the dog with the sharp, white teeth warily, "I just had a bit of a fright back there on the street and I was so happy to see a familiar face…and then it turned out to be your face and….what are you doing here in London?"

Harry had to chuckle at the wild look in his former teacher's eyes and her abrupt change of subject. "I live here," he told her, unable to keep the smile off of his face as he gestured absently to the row of houses behind him, "with my godfather."

"You have a godfather?" Maggie asked in surprise as Harry nodded. "Well, that's wonderful. But, I thought that the Dursleys were your only family left after the accident?"

"Yeah, the accident," the dark haired boy, who was no longer a boy, mumbled with a frown. But he looked down at his dog and a smile came to his face as he told her, "But we were wrong about that…I have a new family now."

Maggie glanced in confusion down at the dog and thought for a moment that it looked eerily familiar to her. But she didn't have time to give it much thought as Harry took that opportunity to ask her, "What are you doing here on Grimmauld Place, Miss Thompson?"

"Is that where I am?" she asked before her brain caught up and she remembered the street sign that she seen earlier. Chuckling, she added, "Well, I am here purely by accident. I teach at a Primary School in London now, Harry, and am afraid that I haven't really taken the time to find my way around this city yet. As I was following a friend back to her flat, we got separated and I took a few wrong turns and," Maggie made a funny face and held out her arms helplessly as she finished, "here I am."

"And something scared you?" He asked, looking cautiously in the direction where she had just been.

"Yes, it was very strange actually," Maggie told him, looking over her shoulder for the cloaked figure that seemed to have disappeared. "I asked this man for directions and he was wearing this long cloak and a hood…like he was trying to disguise himself or something. But, if you ask me, he stood out like a sore thumb in that get up." She frowned as Harry's eyes suddenly began darting around the deserted street, but continued, "He was breathing heavily and then he held this stick out at me and told me to 'keep moving'. It was more strange than scary and I…"

Maggie's words were cut off by a sudden low growl that emanated up from Harry's dog before he began barking loudly.

"Snuffles?" Harry asked, looking down at the dog in concern. "Do you see something?"

"Snuffles?" Maggie repeated with a grin. "That ferocious looking thing is called 'Snuffles'?"

But Harry was ignoring her as he focused intently on the movements of his dog.

"They're here, aren't they?" he asked nervously. "His Death Eaters have found us."

"Death Eaters?" Maggie repeated again, not liking the look on Harry's face or the sudden attack position of his dog. Looking around the darkened area, she whispered, "Harry, what is going on?"

And then, without warning, she watched in horror as Harry's shaggy, black dog stood on his back paws and suddenly transformed himself into a man amidst a cloud of wispy, white smoke.

"What the hell?" Maggie swore as fear coursed through her body. She instinctively stepped between Harry and the man who had been a dog only moments before as she hissed, "Harry, run away! Now!"

"No, Miss Thompson, you don't understand…."

The man took a step forward and Maggie moved both herself and Harry back as he screamed at her, "Bloody Hell, woman! Don't you know that you're in danger here?"

"Harry, run!" Maggie screamed, giving the boy a shove with her shoulder.

"Harry, grab onto my arm," The strange dog-man commanded, looking past her and at her former student. "We have to get back inside."

To Maggie's complete surprise, Harry did as he said. He stepped around her and grabbed onto the monster's arm as he asked quickly, "What about Miss Thompson?"

"She's coming with us."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Maggie hissed again as the dark man moved toward her again. She stumbled as her back foot stepped off the curb and down onto the street and he took that opportunity to snake his free arm around her waist as he pulled her roughly against his lanky form. Maggie immediately began pounding against his chest with her fists as she screamed, "Let me go! Get off of me! Don't touch me!"

"Damn it, hold still…ouch, that hurt!"

"Don't struggle, Miss Thompson," Harry warned, peering at her from his place on her captor's other side. "You might get splinched!"

"Splinched?"

And that was the last thought that ran through Maggie Thompson's head as the three of them turned on the spot and her entire world went black.

I have no idea if more than one person can side-along apparate at the same time, but for the sake of this story they can. I figured that Sirius was a powerful enough wizard to accomplish it.


	7. Welcome to Grimmauld Place

Chapter Seven - Welcome to Grimmauld Place

"Is she dead?"

"No, she's still breathing. I think she has just fainted."

"What did she do that for?"

"Well Ron, most Muggles aren't used to apparating."

"Or seeing a dog turn into a man."

"Piss off, Moony. I had no other choice."

"Mind your tongue, Sirius."

"Sorry, Molly."

"What were the two of you doing outside? You know Dumbledore's orders were to…"

"I know!"

"Sirius and I didn't go far…we just wanted to get some fresh air and stretch our legs, Mr. Weasley. We didn't think it would do any harm."

"Well that plan worked brilliantly, didn't it?"

"You can piss off too, Mad Eye."

"Sirius..."

"Let's get the poor girl off the floor and out of the hallway, shall we?"

"I'll get her."

"Bring her in here to the sofa, Bill. Be sure not to drop her."

"I won't drop her, mum. She's light as a feather."

"There's not much to her, is there? She's quite thin…"

"Like one of those Muggle models. Is she a model, Harry?"

"No, she's a teacher."

"She's a teacher? How come we never had any teachers who looked like her?"

"I love her hair. Doesn't she have great hair, mum? It's like spun gold."

"I can do that with my hair. See?"

"Very cool, Tonks."

"Everyone please back up. Give the child some air."

"I think she's coming around."

As Maggie groggily opened her eyes, she was having trouble deciding what was worse…the throbbing pain in her head or the muffled voices having a conversation about her from somewhere above. But after fully opening her eyes, she decided that the worst thing of all were the thirteen strange and curious faces peering down at her expectantly. Shrinking back further into the sofa she was laying on, Maggie cursed quietly and scanned the faces until she came upon one she recognized.

"Harry?"

"It's alright, Miss Thompson." Harry assured her, pushing his glasses up his nose as he looked down at her with what he must have thought was a comforting smile. "Don't be afraid…"

But Maggie's eyes had settled on the dark figure standing behind him and his words became meaningless as she sat up quickly and shouted, "You!"

A fairer haired man, who looked a little worse for wear, chuckled at her outburst as he put a hand on the darker man's shoulder and remarked, "I see that you haven't lost your touch with women, Padfoot, despite all those years in Azkaban."

"I told you to piss off, Moony." The dog-man replied with a scowl, shrugging off the friendly gesture. Turning back to Maggie, he hissed, "Will somebody please stop her from shrieking before my dear old mum begins to wonder who is stealing her spotlight?"

Harry moved closer to his former teacher and once again reiterated, "It's alright, Miss Thompson."

But Miss Thompson wasn't listening to him. Her focus was solely on the man behind him.

"You were a dog." Maggie mumbled, looking at him with a mixture of fear and awe. "You were a big, shaggy, black dog…"

"Very well spotted, ma'am," he replied snidely. "You must be a Muggle canine expert."

"Sirius, please," his friend said sharply. "Don't taunt her…she's had a bit of a strange night."

"Well who's fault is that?"

"I know you," she breathed, still unable to take her eyes off of the dog who had turned into a man before her very eyes. "Why do I know you?"

"I'm quite certain I don't know the answer to that one." The dark haired man replied with a smirk, eyeing her keenly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Although I am quite famous, even in the Muggle world. Perhaps you have a portrait of me hanging in your locker at school?"

"Sirius!"

"Relax, will you? I'm simply having a little fun, Moony." The man said to his friend who kept reprimanding him. "You do remember fun, don't you?"

"Vaguely." came the clipped response.

"He was a dog." Maggie repeated, finally bringing her gaze back around to Harry and trying to find some reassurance in his expression. "I mean, I'm not losing my mind. Am I? He was a dog and he was standing right beside you when he started to bark." She glanced up at Sirius again and added, "And then he was a man and…"

Maggie sank back into the softness of the sofa again and covered her eyes with her hands as she muttered, "I am losing my mind. I have finally gone 'round the bend."

She heard various chuckles from the group that surrounded her, so she peeked out from behind her closed fingers and asked, "Am I dreaming, Harry?"

"No," he assured her, reaching up to remove her hands from her face. "This is not a dream. This is very real."

She gestured behind him again and began, "But he was…"

"A dog. Yes," Harry told her calmly. "You are right about that. He was a dog and turned into a man…"

"You seem awfully calm about this, Harry," Maggie interrupted, finally realizing that the young man was not the least bit afraid of what had happened to them earlier. "This man…or dog…or whatever his is…grabbed us and knocked us out and you aren't even frightened. This kind of thing doesn't happen everyday…"

"In our world it does, actually."

"Your world?"

Harry took a deep breath and looked around at the people who surrounded them.

"You might as well tell her, Harry." A pretty young red haired girl said, smiling warmly at Maggie's confused expression. "It's not like you can hide it from her anymore. She's here…right in the middle of everything."

"Hide what?"

Maggie watched Harry nod briefly at the girl and then turn back to face her. He grabbed her hands and pulled her back up into a sitting position as he sat down on the sofa beside her. Never letting go of her hands, which Maggie found odd, he nodded up in the direction of the strange dog-man and said, "This is Sirius. He's my godfather…"

"The godfather that you live with?" she interrupted, gazing curiously up at the man Harry was referring to. "The dog is your godfather?"

"This will go much faster if you don't interrupt," Harry's godfather informed her with a sneer. "Let the boy finish."

Maggie returned his scowl, but turned back to Harry and said, "I'm sorry."

Harry nodded and continued quietly, "He's not a dog. He's a wizard."

"A wizard?"

"A wizard who can turn into a dog," Harry clarified, watching her reaction carefully. "It's really advanced magic…"

"Magic?"

"Apparently she isn't going to heed my warning about interrupting." The man called Sirius noted pointedly, only to receive a smack in the back of the head from a woman with spiky pink hair who was standing nearby. "Ow…"

"Miss Thompson, do you remember when you picked me up on Magnolia Crescent a few years ago? And you drove me to London?" When Maggie nodded, Harry continued, "Well, I told you that a friend had come and rescued me from the Dursleys and took me somewhere brighter. That friend was from a place called Hogwarts…Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm a wizard, Miss Thompson. We're all wizards."

Maggie blinked quickly and glanced around again at the faces hovering over her. They were all smiling down at her and nodding. But their serene expressions did nothing to diminish her confusion.

"You're a wizard?" she repeated, focusing her eyes back on Harry. "And you go to a school for wizards?"

Harry nodded again as the woman with pink hair informed her, "It's the finest school of it's kind."

"There's more than one?" Maggie asked in alarm as the strangers all nodded in unison. Eyeing Harry skeptically, she asked, "Harry, is this a joke?"

"No, Miss Thompson," he assured her with a smile, "this is all very real."

"You're a wizard?" she repeated again.

"Not very bright, is she?" Sirius joked, this time earning him an elbow in the gut from his friend with the mousy, brown hair.

"She's actually taking it quite well, for a Muggle," a girl with bushy brown hair informed the group. "My mother was not half as calm as Harry's teacher. She screamed and locked herself in the bathroom for hours on the day that I got my letter."

Maggie looked at the girl strangely, not sure whether she had paid her a compliment or not, before Harry said, "Do you remember how strange everyone thought I was back in Primary School? And how I turned Mrs. Struthers' hair blue during my third year? Or how I ended up on the kitchen roof that day?" Maggie nodded and Harry continued, "I made those things happen because I am a wizard, only I didn't know it then. I didn't know it until Hagrid came and took me to Hogwarts." He lowered his voice and squeezed her hands lightly as he told her, "I found friends there. I found a family. This is where I belong…where I fit in. I never fit in at Little Whinging because I didn't belong there."

"Because you're a wizard." Maggie finished for him, studying his face very carefully. He was looking at her with such earnestness and hope in his face that Maggie's heart simply burst. This was what she had always wanted for him…to find a place where he belonged. But…wizards? Carefully and softly, she said, "Harry, this is a bit hard for me to believe…"

"But you do believe, I know you do," he said quickly, a look of determination in his face. "You told me."

"When did I tell you that?"

"That Halloween when I was in your class," he reminded her, his eyes shining with hope. "You told me about your dream and that book you were reading about witches. You said that you believed in…" Harry's eyes suddenly lit up as he exclaimed, "Your dream!"

"What about it?"

"You saw Peter Pettigrew transfigure into a rat!"

"Who?" Maggie asked at the same time that Sirius perked up and asked, "What?"

Harry turned to look up at his godfather and was bursting with excitement as he said, "She was on the street that day! She can tell the Ministry what she saw and get you cleared!"

"Harry, the Ministry obliviated the memories of all Muggles who were on the street that day," a tall red headed man said quietly, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. "She couldn't possibly remember…"

"But she does! She told me, Mr. Weasley! She told me back in primary school, back before I even knew about Sirius or Wormtail or what happened in Godric's Hollow," Harry interrupted. "Something must have gone wrong because it comes back to her in her dreams!" Looking back at Maggie, he asked, "Do you still have that dream about the man turning into a rat?"

"Yes, but…"

"You were on the street in Godric's Hollow?" Sirius asked, suddenly intrigued. "The day after Halloween in 1981?"

"I was visiting my aunt," Maggie told him, narrowing her eyes at him. "How did you know?"

"He's the man of your dreams!"

"What?" Sirius and Maggie both asked as they looked at Harry in shock.

"Your dream," Harry reminded her, smiling widely. "It wasn't a dream…it really happened. Sirius is the man who was laughing in the street."

"That's why he looks familiar to you!" The red haired girl breathed, her eyes wide with amazement. "Harry, do you know what this means?"

But Maggie wasn't paying attention to their words anymore. Her eyes were fixed on Harry's godfather, who was returning her gaze with intensity. He was a bit older, his hair was a bit longer, and he was a bit more worse for wear…but he was definitely the man in her dream.

"You turned that man into a rat?" she asked Sirius quietly.

"He turned himself into a rat, actually," Sirius informed her smugly, "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"That was a dream…"

"A dream that started when you were twelve years old and staying with your aunt in Godric's Hollow!" Harry exclaimed, the pieces fitting together as his mind reeled. "It was real. You had your memory altered by the Ministry of Magic…"

"The Ministry of Magic?"

"The men in dresses," Harry explained hurriedly as he looked up at the man he had referred to as Mr. Weasley, "They have records, don't they? They had to keep track of all the Muggles whose memories they obliviated that day, right? The Ministry would know that they altered her memory and they would have to believe her!" Turning to Sirius he shouted, "You're free!"

A smile crept onto Sirius' face as he said, "Harry, calm down. We can't be sure that they'll even believe her. She's a Muggle who shouldn't even…"

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Maggie wondered out loud, looking around the room again. "What's a Muggle?"

"It's what we call people who can't do magic," The red haired girl told her with a smile. "Don't worry, it's not a bad name."

"And you are?"

"My name is Ginny," the girl replied, holding out her hand to shake Maggie's. "Ginny Weasley. I'm a friend of Harry's."

"Well then, you must be a smart girl," Maggie replied with a smile, liking this girl immediately. Her stomach did flip flops when she heard Ginny use the phrase 'friend of Harry's' and her smile widened. "Are you a wizard, too?"

"I'm a witch," Ginny corrected her kindly. "Girls are witches."

"Of course they are," Maggie replied, shaking her head as she muttered, "I need a drink."

"Sirius, fetch the girl some tea." clucked an older woman who bore a striking resemblance to Ginny.

"Mum, the woman just found out that her prize student is a wizard," a tall red haired boy said as he exchanged a smile with a boy who looked exactly like him.

"And that there's a whole world of wizards out there that she never knew about," the second twin reminded his mother. "I think she needs something stronger than tea."

"Well spoken, boys." Sirius said, lifting his wand and opening his mouth to speak. But the words never left his lips as he looked over at his brown haired friend, who raised a knowing eyebrow at him.

"Don't you think that conjuring up a glass from mid air is a little more than Miss Thompson is ready to take at this point, Sirius?" The man teased, reaching out to lower his friend's wand.

Sirius scowled and muttered, "She's going to see it sooner or later," as he left the room. He returned moments later with a glass and continued, "This better not mean that we have to tiptoe around her while she's here and not do magic in fear of freaking out the Muggle…"

"What is this?" Maggie asked as he unceremoniously handed her the glass.

"Firewhiskey." When she looked at it skeptically, he commanded, "Just drink it. I wouldn't poison you when you might be able to clear my name."

Scowling at him, she drank down what was in the glass and a fire erupted in her throat and mouth. Maggie coughed and spluttered and began to breathe deeper and faster. No wonder they called it firewhiskey. Recovering quickly as she smirked at Sirius, she told him smugly, "You don't have to tiptoe around me or change your life at all on my account. As soon as I get out of here, you can go back to…"

"You can't leave." He interrupted sharply, crossing his arms in front of him and leaning against the doorframe.

"Why not?"

"The Death Eaters have seen you…"

"Death Eaters?" Maggie repeated, her head still spinning from the firewhiskey. Or from learning that Harry was a wizard. She wasn't sure which.

"Servants of the Dark Lord…"

"Dark Lord?"

"The bad guy, alright?" Sirus stormed and then rolled his eyes at her as he muttered, "Naïve idiot…"

"I am not an idiot!" Maggie exclaimed defensively, glaring up at him. "I graduated top of my class from Oxford!"

"Well, good for you!" Sirius shouted back, running his hand through his unkempt hair. "But your fancy education obviously didn't teach you not to approach strange men wearing cloaks on dark streets and ask them for directions, did it? And now one or more of Voldemort's Death Eater's know you can be linked to Harry and there's no telling what they will do with that information…"

"Calm down, Sirius." The plump, motherly woman snapped at him, narrowing her eyes. "She didn't know…"

"What is a Death Eater?" Maggie interrupted, looking again to Harry for answers. "And who or what is a Voldemort?"

Maggie's eyes widened as everyone around her visibly flinched at her words. Very gently, Harry explained, "Voldemort is a dark and dangerous wizard who is trying to take over the wizarding world. We think that the man who frightened you on the street was one of his servants, called Death Eaters. We are hiding out from them as we come up with a plan to stop him from gaining power."

The young teacher looked at him as if his head were about to spin around, but all she asked was, "But I don't understand what that has to do with me and why I can't go home…"

"If that man was a Death Eater, then he can identify you and report back to Voldemort," again everyone flinched as Harry continued, "If he saw you with me outside on the street, then they can use you to get to me…"

"And he will," Sirius interrupted, his eyes blazing, "The Dark Lord is unscrupulous. You must stay here."

Ignoring him, Maggie said to Harry, "But I have a job in London. And friends. People will be looking for me when I don't show up tomorrow…"

"They won't find you," Ginny reassured her. "And neither will the Death Eaters. There are so many charms on this house that it is probably the safest place in London."

"But they'll be worried about me," Maggie pressed, "They'll call around looking for me and wonder what has happened to me…"

"We'll contact your school and tell them you've taken an emergency leave." The brown haired man assured her with a kind smile.

"How?"

"We have our ways," He replied airily, the smile never leaving his face. "We've dealt with Muggles before."

"We have an entire section of the Ministry of Magic dedicated to it." Mr. Weasley informed her proudly.

Maggie looked around at all of their faces and then muttered softly, "This is insane."

"Well, it's no picnic for us either," Sirius said with a snort, ignoring the warning hand that his friend placed on his arm. "You've compromised our world!"

"How did I do that?"

"We're on the brink of war!" he shouted at her and then lowered his voice as he added, "We don't have time to be babysitting a Muggle…"

"I don't need a babysitter!"

"For your own protection, you do!" Sirius informed her coldly, "You can't do magic, so you can't function in our world."

"So let me go back to my world!"

"YOU ARE IN DANGER!"

"Sirius…"

"How many different ways do we have to explain that to you?" He continued, ignoring Harry's warning. "When are you going to get it through your thick skull that this is not a game! This is serious…"

"Sirius!" Ginny's mum snapped, glaring at him angrily. "That is quite enough!"

Sirius glared back at the red headed woman, but held his tongue nonetheless. As he scowled at Maggie from across the room, Ginny suggested, "She's only been here a short time. And maybe she didn't see a Death Eater outside. Maybe she could go back…"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Sirius, Ginny." Mr. Weasley said quietly. "Until we can sort out what happened here, we have to work under the assumption that she has been seen."

"And that makes her a sitting duck." Sirius' brown haired friend agreed, moving toward the door. "I'll send a message to Severus and see what he knows."

As he left the room, the woman with pink hair added, "And we can't risk sending her back. We can't spare any Aurors to watch over her in the Muggle world…we're understaffed as it is."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to stay, Miss Thompson," Harry concluded gently, squeezing her hand again, "Whether you like it or not."

"My guess is 'not'." Harry's godfather sneered.

"Sirius, behave. This girl could clear your name, so the least you could do is be hospitable," the red haired woman said, moving over to Maggie's side. Pulling her to her feet, she continued to chastise, "She didn't ask for this. She's trapped here…and you of all people should understand that."

Sirius actually looked humbled by that last statement as the woman looked warmly at Maggie and said, "Come with me, dear. We'll get you something to eat and try to answer some more of your questions. My name is Molly, by the way. Molly Weasley…"

As Mrs. Weasley ushered Maggie from the room, followed closely by Hermione and the four youngest Weasely's, her oldest son, Bill, watched the scene with interest. Finally turning to Sirius, he asked, "I think the big question here is…can we trust her?"

"Yes."

Bill, Arthur, Sirius, Tonks, and Mad-Eye all looked down at Harry as he explained, "She's my teacher. She was the first person who was ever nice to me…and she had no reason to be. But she did it anyway. She tried to protect me from the Dursleys and tried to get me taken away from them." Glancing around the room, he reiterated, "She actually protected me before any of you did. We can trust her."

The room was silent as the members of the Order considered Harry's words and finally Mad-Eye Moody stated, "If Harry trusts her, that's good enough for me."

"Me, too." Arthur and Bill agreed simultaneously.

"Same for me," Tonks added and then grinned as she said, "And it will be nice to have a woman my age around for a change."

But Sirius Black didn't look quite so sure.


	8. Getting to Know You Again

Chapter Eight - Getting to Know You…Again

_Later that evening..._

"…so Ron and Hermione are your two best friends from this school called Hogwarts?"

Harry nodded and watched as his former primary school teacher picked at the third helping of stew that Molly Weasley had piled in front of Maggie. Stabbing at a chunk of potato, she looked up at him and asked pointedly, "And this school teaches you how to be a better wizard?"

He nodded again and this time added a smile as she chewed thoughtfully on the potato before saying, "You know, Harry, I called around to a lot of schools to find you a few years ago…but Hogwarts wasn't on my list."

"It's not on many people's lists." The green eyed boy conceded before asking shyly, "You called around looking for me?"

"Of course I did," Maggie informed him with a tender smile, "You got to me, Harry Potter. And I thought that I had let you down, so I wanted to make sure that no one else let you down the way Little Whinging had." They shared another knowing smile as the pair fell into a comfortable silence that was broken only by the crack and pop of the kitchen fire and the occasional voices of the people mingling about on the floors above, until Maggie grinned slyly and asked, "And the other girl…the redhead…is she your girlfriend?"

Maggie fought back the urge to giggle as she watched the blush creep up his neck and spread out onto his cheeks as he stammered, "No. That's just Ginny."

"Just Ginny?" The teacher teased after swallowing another bite of stew. "So 'Just Ginny' is not your girlfriend?"

"No."

"But you want her to be?"

"No," Harry answered, a little too quickly. "She's Ron's sister. And a friend." He looked up at her stubbornly and added, "Just a friend."

"Okay, I get it…'Just Ginny' is just a friend." Maggie kidded him, not really believing a word that he said. She watched him stand up abruptly and move to retrieve them a couple more bottles of butterbeer before sitting back down at the kitchen table with her. As he shoved the drink across the table, she decided to drop the girlfriend subject and asked, "So, all of the redheads are part of Ron and Ginny's family?"

"The Weasleys." Harry affirmed, twisting the cap off of his butterbeer and taking a sip. When he had swallowed, he added, "They are what's called a pure-blood wizarding family. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and all seven of their children are pretty powerful witches and wizards."

"Seven children?" Maggie asked, almost choking on her own sip of butterbeer. "Wow. I thought the tradition of having large families like that was long gone. I mean, growing up in a family of five children made me different…but seven?" She smiled and added, "I like it though. I think children from big families have a bond that no one else can truly understand. Where are the other two?"

"Charlie is in Romania working for the Order of the Phoenix and Percy…" Harry hesitated before he settled on saying, "Percy lives here in London."

Maggie could tell by the look on Harry's face that she probably didn't want to touch that one with a ten foot pole, so instead she said, "I like Molly. She reminds me a little bit of my own mother and grandmother all rolled into one. It seems like she has taken care of you, too, over the years."

"Like one of her own." He said with a wistful smile and Maggie suddenly felt like throwing her arms around Molly Weasley and never letting go.

"And all of the others…they are part of this secret society gearing up to fight the Dark Lord?"

Harry nodded again as he said, "The Order of the Phoenix. My mum and dad were a part of it…before Voldemort killed them."

Maggie halted her fork full of stew in mid-air as she watched Harry with wide eyes. Finally putting the utensil down, she repeated quietly, "Voldemort killed your parents? Oh Harry…" she breathed, not knowing exactly what to say to him at that point.

"They fought against him." He mumbled, picking up a spare fork and reaching across the table to stab at a bite of her stew. "So he tracked them down and killed them."

"So there never was a car accident?" Harry nodded slowly, so Maggie sighed and admitted, "I guess I always wondered what kind of cut would leave a scar shaped like a lightning bolt." Sensing that he was not all that comfortable talking about it, she changed the subject again and asked, "So the guy with the freaky eye patch…"

"Mad Eye Moody." He replied, smiling at her description of the Auror.

"He's a good guy?" Harry nodded again and Maggie asked skeptically, "Are you sure?"

"Very sure."

"He's a bit scary looking, don't you think?"

"Well, looks can be deceiving." Harry told her, sounding very much like the teacher for a moment.

"You can say that again." Maggie rolled her eyes and screwed up her face in a way that caused Harry to laugh out loud. Reveling in the sound, she added, "Speaking of looks, that girl with the pink hair changed her nose for me a few times before she left. I think she was trying to get me to laugh. It worked."

"Tonks is very cool." Harry agreed. "You'll like her a lot."

"And the other two men…"

"Remus and Sirius." Harry reminded her, figuring that they would get back around to Sirius eventually. He really couldn't explain his godfather's peculiar behavior, but he certainly hadn't made a good first impression on Miss Thompson. "They were my dad's two best friends."

"Really?" Maggie asked, looking at him with interest. "They seem so mismatched to be best friends. I mean, Remus is…nice."

Harry chuckled at her expression and said, "Yes, he is. He was my professor at Hogwarts for a term before he had to move on." He looked up at her intently and added, "And Sirius is not really as bad as he seemed tonight…"

"I should hope not." Maggie interrupted, stabbing at her stew with a bit more force. "I was thrilled to hear that you had found your godfather, Harry. But I have to tell you that I don't know if I'm all that crazy about you staying with such an unstable and angry…"

"He's been cooped up here for a few months." Harry told her quickly, not wanting Maggie to write off Sirius before she got to know him. "And the first time he got outside into the fresh air, it ends up with us possibly being seen by a Death Eater and you being trapped here, too. He knows it is partly his fault that you got stuck here and because he's hiding out, he can't do anything to help either one of us."

"Why is he hiding out?"

"He went to prison for killing Peter Pettigrew…"

"The man who turned into a rat?"

Harry nodded and continued, "He spent twelve years locked up for a crime he didn't commit. And wizarding prisons are not like Muggle prisons…they have these guards who suck out your soul…" Harry paused at Maggie's sharp intake of breath before adding, "…and even though he's out now, he still can't live as a free man because he can't prove that Pettigrew is still alive."

"Which is where I come in." Maggie deduced.

"Professor Lupin…Remus…told me that he thinks Sirius feels responsible for what happened to my parents. He couldn't stop it from happening to them and now he can't protect me either because he can't leave this house." Wanting to make sure she understood Sirius' reaction, he added forcefully, "Sirius isn't good at being helpless."

"So I'm supposed to give him a second chance?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at Harry.

"He did save your life tonight," Harry reminded her. "And he's letting you stay in his house."  
When Maggie gave him a knowing look, he laughed and added, "I know the place is a little creepy, but he's only trying to protect everyone. Including you."

"Only because he thinks I can free him," Maggie muttered, "And then I'll be the one cooped up here instead."

"I'm really sorry, Miss Thompson," Harry said looking at her forlornly. "You shouldn't have to be mixed up in this…"

"Harry, I'm not your teacher anymore," she interrupted with a sad smile, "and after everything that has happened here tonight, I think you should start calling me Maggie." He returned her smile as she continued, "And you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. You didn't mean for this to happen. It just…happened."

"So you do believe me?" He asked hopefully. "About all of this?"

Maggie considered him thoughtfully before she answered slowly, "I always knew that there was something special about you, Harry. Of course, I never expected this."

Harry chuckled and answered, "Me neither."

"It suits you, though."

"Really?" he asked in surprise.

"You're not the same boy who walked into my fifth grade class, Harry," Maggie told him with a look of pride on her face. "I was very worried about that boy…wondering what would happen to him out in the big, cruel world. But now, you're happier. More confident and at ease with who you are. You laugh easier and smile more." Smiling widely, she finished, "You've found your place."

"This is where I belong." Harry agreed happily.

Maggie's face fell as the mood changed and she reminded him, "But this isn't where I belong. This isn't my world, Harry…"

But their conversation was interrupted by Sirius bounding down the steps and into the kitchen announcing, "Molly has decreed that none of the empty bedrooms in this house are fit for Princess Maggie to sleep in…"

"Sirius," Harry interrupted, rolling his eyes. "I was just trying to convince her that you weren't as bad as you seem."

The dark haired man looked down at his godson and let out a bark like laugh before he continued, "So, anyway, I've been sent down here to tell you that you will be sleeping up in my room tonight and we will begin cleaning out one of the third floor bedrooms for you tomorrow…"

"Your bedroom?" Maggie interrupted in alarm. "I am not sleeping with you!"

"Don't flatter yourself, Miss Magnolia," Sirius sneered, barely bothering to look over at her, "Molly has also decided that I will be sleeping in my brother's old room, which should be plenty of fun for me. She and Ginny are upstairs changing the sheets on my bed and the room shall be ready for you shortly."

"Thank you." Maggie replied stiffly, taking another sip of her butterbeer.

"I don't know when I lost control of my own house…" Sirius muttered as he turned and walked back up the stairs to the drawing room. "Trapped here like I am still a prisoner, getting ordered around by somebody else's mother, kicked out of my own bed by a Muggle…"

Maggie pursed her lips and glared at Harry as she sneered, "Not as bad as he seems, eh?"

Helplessly Harry answered, "He's usually not this surly…"

"Yeah," Maggie interrupted, standing up and taking her plate over to the sink, "I'm sure he's a real peach."


	9. Dreams

Chapter Nine - The Man of Her Dreams

"_Auntie Sarah, wait for me!"_

_Maggie pushed her way through the crowded streets of Godric's Hollow in an attempt to catch up with her aunt, who was briskly walking about twenty paces ahead of her. _

"_Hurry up, little Magnolia girl!" Sarah Thompson clucked, pausing briefly to allow her twelve year old niece catch up to her. The child was prone to letting her mind wander and often stopped to daydream or watch a pigeon peck at the cobblestone sidewalk. But Sarah didn't have time for any of that nonsense today. The pair were headed to downtown Godric's Hollow to visit a series of specialist shops that few knew about, tiny outlets with grey haired women selling crystals and oils to soothe away all ills, unusual bookshops catering to the most unusual request, and sidewalk shops selling cuisine to suit every taste. _

_Maggie quickened her steps so that she could catch up with her aunt, but a flash of black fur to her left caught her eye. Weaving it's way through the crowd of legs and shopping bags, was a shaggy dog who looked as if he'd been dragged backwards through a bush. The beast's black fur was matted to his body and his pale eyes were flashing as they searched the crowded street as if he were looking for something. Or someone._

_But before the young girl had a chance to be afraid, the dog let out an evil snarl and began to growl while an expression of anger and outrage seemed to cross the animal's face as the crowd began to disperse. In the next moment he was gone and there in the exact place the dog had stood, was a man. His own dark hair was matted and messed up and there was a glint in his shining, sunken eyes that seemed to prepare them for an imminent darkness that would overshadow them in the events of the next few seconds. The man turned on the spot, grasping something tightly in the pocket of his jacket as he appeared to swallow a lump in his throat. Maggie was mesmerized by his presence and in the briefest of moments watched as a million emotions shot across his face…ranging from the deepest grief to the ripest anger in the flicker of a single, distraught instant. His brow was furrowed in some form of deep concentration, gearing himself up for whatever task lay ahead within the crowd. Then he walked away._

_The next few seconds seemed to last an eternity as the mysterious man crossed the street with those darkening, soulful eyes now focused on his target. A short, rounded man with a shifty expression was standing with his back against the corner of a nearby building as if he was a couple of stories up and about to take a flying leap. They conversed for a minute or two, the anonymous stranger dominating the conversation and the shorter man looking more and more frantic as the dark-haired man edged closer. The exchange was taking place through gritted teeth and the dark-haired man was shaking with visible anger, edging on uncontrollable hysteria as his large, strong shoulders shook with the effort of self-control. She caught little of their conversation - words like traitor, broken, lies and death - but she didn't need to know the details. For once in her life, her sight was enough. The rounded man had done wrong and was about to face the consequences._

_Suddenly the situation changed and the dark haired man let out a howl of rage as he shoved his companion up against the wall, easily daunting his wimp-like figure. Maggie stood like a statue as she watched, knowing instinctively that this was going to get nasty. Surprisingly, the smaller man had a sudden surge of energy, pushing himself free of the other man's vice-like grip and edging back into the middle of the street. She stared at the black haired man left standing on the sidewalk and he visibly paled as a shrill voice cut through the mild autumn air…_

"_Lily and James, Sirius! How could you!"_

_The next pictures, the final ones to be processed in her mind, were slowed and dazed and seemed more likely that her imagination was playing tricks on her. Magic wasn't real. People couldn't turn into animals. And you certainly couldn't blow a street apart with the force of a small army shell with a piece of painted wood. But that was exactly what had happened. Just as her dark-haired stranger pulled out his elaborately polished stick and held it in front of him like he was brandishing a sword in battle, she glanced at his threatening enemy, who was holding his own weapon behind his back and pointing toward the street a few feet away. He muttered something in a language that Maggie didn't recognize and then the world exploded._

_It was like staring at the center of the sun. The blazing glow at first was completely dazzling, as she was knocked backward off her feet by the blast, the wind rustling her hair as the fall out passed over her body. Her eyes wide with amazement despite the debris flying through the air at her, Maggie watched in horror as the small, round man slashed off his own finger and then melted like an ice sculpture into the pavement. A rat suddenly appeared in his place and the young girl could swear that he waved at her before disappearing into the earth._

"_Maggie!" she could hear Aunt Sarah crying in the distance, a frantic tone in her usually melodic voice, "Maggie, where are you!"_

_She opened her mouth to answer, but found herself unable to speak as her eyes frantically searched the screaming crowds for her aunt. And the last thing she heard before passing out was a laugh. Not a laugh filled with happiness at a job well done, not at the satisfaction of the destruction caused, but the laugh of the dark haired man. It was the laughter of a man driven to the edge. A man who knew, in that instant, that he'd lost everything. A laugh at the cruel fate the world had awarded him…_

Maggie bolted upright into a sitting position and let out a gasp, sweating through the unfamiliar gown she was wearing. The image of her dream was the closest her mind ever got to any form of visual reality. She would see the same scenes over and over, childhood sights interspersed with adult glimpses. A family destroyed. A friend. A traitor. A dark-haired man on the brink of insanity.

Maggie instinctively felt around in the darkness for her lamp as her eyes developed into a feeble attempt at focus. But there was no bedside table, no lamp…nothing that was familiar. She gave in to panic for a moment before remembering that this wasn't her room. She wasn't entirely sure that this was really her life as she glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings in the darkness.

She was in Sirius Black's room, in Sirius Black's house, in a world that didn't make any sense to her. But she should be used to that by now, Maggie thought bitterly to herself. People she didn't recognize - implanted in her brain without her consent - had invaded the privacy of her dreams for nearly fourteen years now. She'd grown to accept their presence, almost feeling as if their memories belonged to her. She felt the panic alongside them too, as that final flash of white faded to the deepest shade of green. She sighed wearily. They were gone for now.

_He's the man of your dreams! _Harry had said.

Sirius Black was no longer just a figment of her overactive imagination and Harry had attempted to provide the answers that she had been searching out for so long. But all of the answers had only led to more questions and now her dream was back, more vivid than ever.

"Maggie?"

The young teacher's eyes drifted over to the doorway of her strange bedroom and saw young Ginny standing there, her face lit by the flame of the single candle she carried with her.

"Ginny?" Maggie asked, pulling her knees up beneath her chin and wrapping her arms around them. "What are you doing up here?"

In the candlelight, Maggie was sure she saw the girl blush as she admitted, "I was sneaking back up to my room from the kitchen and thought I heard you cry out while I was on the stairs. I came up to check and see if you needed anything."

"Thank you, Ginny. That was very kind." Trying to take on her best teacher tone, she added with a grin, "And what were you doing down in the kitchen late at night?"

"After living with six brothers, I have learned that if I want any extra helpings of dessert than I had better go get it while they are all sound asleep. Plus, I have a late night hot chocolate addiction."

Maggie chuckled as Ginny moved further into the room and asked, "Bad night?"

She watched Ginny use the flame of her candle to light the candles that hung on either side of the four poster bed, illuminating the room just enough so that Maggie could see the concern on the young girl's face. Patting the coverlet in an awkward invitation to sit down, Maggie sighed and answered quietly, "Just my famous man turning into a rat dream again…back with a vengeance."

Sitting gingerly on Sirius's bed, Ginny replied, "It must be the room. Being in Sirius's room, finding out what your dream really meant…it's probably playing with your memories more than usual."

"And then there's the whole finding out that Harry is a wizard thing..." Maggie added, causing Ginny to chuckle.

"Yes, I suppose that would do a number on your subconscious." Smiling at Maggie, she explained, "I've lived in this world my entire life, so it is all I know. But I can certainly see how strange it would be for someone like you to get thrown into the middle of it."

"This definitely wasn't how I thought my evening would turn out," The teacher confided with a wry smile, "I had planned on going out with friends for dinner and drinks…but nothing close to firewhiskey. That stuff is lethal."

"So I've heard," Ginny laughed, pulling her legs up underneath her and setting her candle gingerly on top of the coverlet.

"I guess it is my own fault, though." Maggie admitted, eyeing the candle skeptically and willing herself not to move so as not to disturb it. "I got into this mess by not paying attention to where I was going…that's why I saw what happened between Sirius and the rat in the first place." Sensing that she needed to talk, Ginny simply nodded and listened as the blond woman continued, "The dreams have been a part of me for so long that finding out they are real should be a relief, I guess. But you can't go around babbling about wands and magic spells and men turning into rats in your sleep and not expect the topic to appear at the kitchen table the next morning…especially when you have brothers. Everyone said that I'd always had an overactive imagination and chalked it up to my need for an outlet for my creativity. And since my Aunt Sarah, who was on the street with me, never mentioned it…I figured they were all right."

"Something must have gone horribly wrong with the memory charm they put on you…maybe it was because you were younger than the rest," Ginny mused, looking thoughtful. "It's lucky for Sirius, though. And I bet it's a relief to know that you're not crazy."

Ginny finished with a grin and Maggie had to chuckle as she said, "You don't know how many times I have doubted my sanity and wondered whether those two figures in the street were real or just some vivid figment of my imagination. The dreams were just so life like, you know? I guess that's why I ended up sharing them with Harry in the first place. I had to share with somebody."

"And little did you know that by sharing your dream with him you would end up being able to give a man back his freedom," The red haired girl reminded her, "Life is just funny sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah," Maggie agreed looking at her thoughtfully.

But before she could say anything else, Ginny picked up her candle and hopped off of the bed. "Well, I should be getting back downstairs to bed now. I just wanted to check and see if you were alright."

"Thanks for checking, Ginny."

"Do you want me to blow those out?" she asked, referring to the sconces on the wall.

"I'll get them."

"Do you need anything?" Maggie smiled again and shook her head so Ginny slowly backed out of the room, but not before saying, "Good night, Maggie. I hope that the rest of your dreams will be peaceful."

"Good night, Ginny." She replied and watched the young girl leave, thinking that maybe life at Grimmauld Place wasn't going to be as bad as she first imagined.


	10. Dawn of A Brand New Day

**Thank you again to everyone who has left reviews! You make me so happy! And so now, I will try to make you happy with this chapter! I hope you like it!**

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Chapter Ten - Dawn of a Brand New Day

_The next morning_

The early morning sun shone through the window as it's golden beams of light greeted the sleeping body curled up in the middle of a large four poster bed. The body was wrapped tightly in a coverlet of scarlet and gold, like a birthday present, and a mane of soft, blond hair could be seen through the opening at the top of the blankets. The soft tuneful call of a bird out for some breakfast could be heard from inside, while another figure made its way into the room in which the first slept undisturbed.

Maggie rolled over in her sleep and tried to get comfortable, however she didn't think that sleep was the most appropriate word to describe her current physical state. She found herself floating somewhere in the region between sleep and awake, where you want nothing less than the sandman to hit you with all he's got and whisk you away to a more peaceful place. But she knew that it wasn't going to happen. Maggie shifted onto her side and was rudely awoken by the beam of sunlight that shone onto her face. Her eyelids slowly fluttered open and she blinked until her eyes had adapted to the bright light the bedroom was bathed in. Her hands attacked her eyes to rub away the sleep from them and when she tried to sit up, the confusion caused by her unfamiliar surroundings immediately caused her to flop her back into the pillows.

It wasn't another one of her strange dreams. She was still there.

"Sleep well?"

Maggie's eyes flew open again but she was unwilling to move any of her limbs that had been rendered numb by their long inactivity. The drapes had not been completely closed over the windows the evening before, and the bright light of dawn was filtering into the bedroom as it illuminated the smirking face of Sirius Black.

"I'm sorry to inform you that last night's events were not a product of your imagination," he informed her, rifling through a drawer in the nearby bureau, "You really are stuck here. So take a moment and let it sink in…"

"What are you doing in here?" Maggie demanded, finally able to get her eyes to focus on him.

"This is _my_ bedroom, remember?" Harry's godfather reminded her, not once looking up from the drawer that he was looking through. "But not to worry, I will be gone in a moment. I simply need to find something…"

Maggie allowed her eyes to linger on the room's true owner for a moment and noticed that in the light of day Sirius's gray eyes and long, dark hair reminded her of a sexy rock-star she had a crush on in her youth.

_Oh God._

Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip and she took a deep breath as she tried to rid her foggy brain of that thought.

"Tonks stopped by early this morning and dropped off some clothes for you. She said she would do some shopping for you if you like those." Sirius said suddenly, rudely breaking into her thoughts and nodding to a pile of clothes haphazardly tossed at the end of the bed.

Slowly crawling down to the edge of the bed, Maggie examined the pile of funky skirts, stylishly patched jeans, and colorful t-shirts. Smiling to herself, she looked up to find him watching her and said quietly, "This was very nice of her."

He shrugged and informed her, "She figured that you wouldn't have any proper clothes in that small handbag you were carrying last night and you couldn't really show up to breakfast in that."

Maggie looked down at the shabby old work shirt of Bill's that Molly had lent her to sleep in. Realizing that the shirt barely covered her bare thighs, she quickly covered herself with the coverlet and could feel the blush creeping up into her cheeks.

Pretending that he hadn't noticed, Sirius continued, "Unless you would like to have your breakfast in bed this morning. I'm sure that one of the twins would be more than happy to bewitch a tray for you and float it up the stairs…"

"No," Maggie said quickly, ignoring his smug smirk, "I will come down for breakfast." Watching as he moved across the room to rummage through a drawer in his wardrobe, she asked quietly, "So, after breakfast, what is going to happen?"

"Most of us will be involved with Order business for most of the day, so I would guess that Molly is going to put you to work helping her and the children clean out a few more bedrooms." He answered, furrowing his brow as he lifted a piece of parchment and read it carefully. Apparently deciding that it wasn't what he was looking for, he threw it back down and continued searching the drawer in front of him.

Since he obviously wasn't in a hurry to leave the room, Maggie slowly sat up and pushed the covers off of her body, a shiver spreading throughout her form when the coldness in the room attacked her semi-clad form. She wasn't expecting the room to be cold in the middle of the summer. She swung her legs over the bed, silently wishing that Sirius would take a hint and give her some privacy, and got to her feet.

Moving around the edge of the bed, Maggie managed to stumble right into one of the solid bed posts and she immediately felt the pain shoot straight from her big toe and spread out through the rest of her body.

"Ouch…dammit! Ow, ow, ow, ow," Maggie growled and snarled as she jumped around on one foot, both of her small hands holding onto her right foot up as she jumped up and down on the left.

Sirius was at her side in an instant, a concerned expression on his face.

"Maggie?"

"Damn, that hurts…ow," she sneered and carefully peered down at her foot as she gingerly placed it back on the floor. But the moment that she did, she cursed herself and gritted her teeth as her body screamed at her for putting pressure on the sore toe.

"What is the matter with you?"

"I stubbed my toe!" she told him sharply as she sat back down on the edge of the bed and lifted her foot so that she could examine it. Wiggling it slightly, Maggie heard a popping sound which she recognized as a piece of her bone rubbing against another piece of bone. "I think it may be broken."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake…" he muttered, reaching out to gently take her foot in his calloused hands. Glancing down, he realized that the big toe on her right foot was beginning to swell to twice it's original size. "How did you even manage to DO this?"

"Look, if you're just going to lecture me then give me my foot back." Maggie replied crossly, trying to pull her leg out of his grasp. But he held on tightly and smirked up at her as he reached into the pocket of his jacket for his wand.

"No!" Maggie cried, shrinking back further on the bed. "You're not going to use that thing on me!"

"I'm not going to turn you into a wine goblet," he muttered, holding tightly to her ankle as she tried to wrench her foot free from his grasp. "I'm going to fix your toe. Now, hold still…"

"Don't!" She objected and then without thinking cried, "The last time I saw you use that thing, someone turned into a rat!"

Sirius chuckled and pointed his wand at her throbbing toe as he muttered, "Episkey." Maggie's eyes widened in shock as her toe reduced back down to it's normal size and the throbbing pain disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Reaching down to grab her foot, which Sirius finally released from his grasp, Maggie breathed, "You fixed it!" Looking up at him, she added, "It was broken and you fixed it without medicine or bandages or…anything!"

"And it's still a toe," he chuckled as he looked down at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "and not a rat." Raising his eyebrow at the pretty blond, Sirius asked seriously, "When are you going to figure out that I am not going to hurt you?"

"When you stop being so rude to me." Maggie snapped back, letting go of her foot and moving away from him. For some reason being near Sirius Black was making her lightheaded. It was probably because she hadn't had any breakfast yet…

"I haven't been rude to you this morning." Sirius pointed out, gesturing to her foot.

"Well it helps that the morning is only ten minutes old, doesn't it?" Maggie reminded him and then added, "Last night…"

"Yes, about that," he interrupted, an embarrassed smile coming to his face. "Last night was more about me being angry at me than me being angry at you."

"Am I supposed to understand what that means?" Maggie asked, crossing her arms over her chest and leveling him with her eyes.

"It means," Sirius began, the grin on his face replaced with a scowl, "that if Harry and I hadn't been outside last night, you wouldn't have seen us and…"

"…and I'd still be wandering around the streets of London." Maggie finished for him, the hint of a smile playing on the corners of her mouth. But she was determined not to smile at him, not yet.

But it was Sirius who smiled as he replied, "Oh, I believe that some poor fool would have taken pity on you and fallen over himself to rescue the beautiful damsel in distress."

"Like a Death Eater?"

"No, Death Eaters do not want to be seen by Muggles…they hate Muggles." He explained, moving over to the window and pulling the velvet curtains open wider. Sirius peered outside for a few moments before he continued quietly, "I have a habit of making rash decisions and foolish choices and when I do, people end up getting hurt. Or killed."

"Like Harry's parents?" she asked softly.

He turned away from the window quickly to look at her as he asked, "He told you about that?"

"Parts of it."

Another faint smile ghosted Sirius's lips as he informed her, "That doesn't surprise me. Harry is quite fond of you."

Maggie blinked away the unexpected tears that had sprung to her eyes and whispered, "Well, I am quite fond of him as well."

"I noticed." Sirius replied and when she raised her head to look at him, their eyes locked and held for the briefest of moments. He was the first to look away, as he cleared his throat and said, "Yes, well anyway…last night I was feeling restless and was able to convince Harry to go against his better judgment and come outside with me. So, because I was being selfish, I put Harry in danger and pulled an unsuspecting Muggle…woman…into our world." His lips curled into a wry smile as he added, "Literally."

She chuckled awkwardly as Sirius continued his explanation by saying, "It was not my finest hour and I suppose it just made me feel better to take it out on you."

"Glad I could help." Maggie quipped and this time she was rewarded with a true smile from him.

"If it makes you feel any better," he informed her with a roll of his eyes, "I was on the receiving end of severe tongue lashings about my behavior from Remus, Molly, Harry and even young Ginny for the rest of the evening. And trust me, those are four people you don't want to have mad at you."

"I'll keep that in mind." She assured him, trying to sound nonchalant. Moving over to the bed and picking up a pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt that Tonks had left for her, she said lightly, "I guess that sounded about as close to an apology as I am going to get, Mr. Black."

He watched her hold the t-shirt up in front of her and his lip twitched as he warned, "And don't think that it will happen again, Miss Magnolia."

Maggie's eyes shifted from studying the outfit to studying him as she said, "That is the second time you have called me Magnolia. How did you know that was my real name?"

"As I've told you, last night was not the first time I had heard of the famous Miss Thompson from Little Whinging Primary School," he reminded her with a sly look as he added, "When I said that Harry was fond of you, that may have been a bit of an understatement. He doesn't say much about his life with the Muggles, but he has often mentioned the young teacher who made life a bit less hopeless for a few months."

"Harry told you about me?"

"You sound surprised," Sirius said, looking at her strangely, "He's mentioned you many times. You made quite an impression on him. But in all the things that he told me, he never once told me of your inherent bravery."

"Bravery?" she repeated, looking at him oddly.

"When we were outside last night, you stepped in front of Harry. To protect him from me…before you knew he didn't need any protecting." He looked at her knowingly as he continued, "When I transformed into my human form from being a dog, you were scared. I saw it in your eyes…those baby blues were wild with fear. But your first instinct was to place your body, unprotected, between Harry and the source of your greatest fear. You didn't hesitate." He smiled smugly at her and added, "That told me that when you have to choose between fight or flight, you are one of the few that would choose to fight…no matter the circumstances."

"It was just my teacher's instinct…" Maggie stuttered, floored by the complimentary words.

"No, it wasn't," he disagreed with a vehement shake of his head, "I have known many teachers in my day, Maggie, and not many of them would willingly step in front of danger for their students. What you did took real courage. And I am a great admirer of those who have courage and use it to protect my godson."

And with those words, he strode arrogantly to the end of the bed and reached around her to pick up one of the light blue t-shirts from the pile of clothes as he said quietly, "I like this one. It will bring out the blue in your eyes."

Maggie took the shirt from him as he continued his stroll over to the doorway and disappeared out into the hallway. And the last thing she heard was his roar of laughter as he made his way down the stairs.


	11. Kitchen Conversations

**Sorry for the delay gang! We took the kiddies away last weekend for one last vacation before school started today! Thanks again for the reviews! You guys are great!**

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"Her name is Maggie Thompson and she was my teacher at Little Whinging Primary School."

Maggie paused on the stairs as Harry's familiar voice floated up from the kitchen. She should have known that she would be the main topic of conversation that morning.

"She saw everything." Harry continued, unaware that Maggie was listening on the stairs. "She saw Sirius transform from his Animagi form, saw him confront Wormtail, and the wand behind Peter's back. She heard him cast the spell. She saw the explosion. Everything."

"The poor woman." Said a female voice that Maggie vaguely remembered belonging to Harry's friend Hermione. "It must have been awful for her. So confusing."

Maggie heard Ginny's voice next as the young girl explained bitterly, "She feels like she has been going a bit mad for the last twelve years. Now she knows that she is not and you don't even believe her?"

"He's not saying that he doesn't believe her," Remus explained quietly in his calm tone. "He is just saying that your plan to free Sirius may not be as foolproof as you think."

"But why not?" Maggie heard Harry ask, a hint of desperation in his voice. "She knows the truth. All Miss Thomp…Maggie…has to do is testify before the Ministry that she was on the street in Godric's Hollow and saw Pettigrew turn himself into a rat. You do keep records about the memories that you charmed that day, don't you?"

Not knowing whether she should flee back up to her bedroom or make an appearance in the kitchen, Maggie simply froze when she heard the next voice.

"Yes, Harry, but it is not as simple as you might think…"

"That voice." Maggie whispered, shrinking back against the wall as her mind involuntarily flashed back to the last time she had heard that deep, velvety smooth voice.

"Maggie," she had managed to say, still trying to figure out what happened.

"What?"

"Maggie. My name is Maggie."

"Maggie," the voice said in a gentler tone as she looked up at the tall, black man crouching down beside her, "what did you see?"

"He," Maggie waved her hand at the black-haired man, who was still laughing, "chased another man -"

"How did he look?"

But before Maggie could answer the black man's questions, chaos once again erupted around her.

"That's him!"

"Sirius Black?"

"Look at the street!"

"God, look at all the Muggles. This will take days to cover up."

"Whose finger is that?"

"Look at the street! Cracked the sewers, he did."

"Maggie!"

The twelve year old girl blinked quickly as she looked up in confusion at the dark skinned man with the kind eyes. Shaking her arm, he asked urgently, "Tell me about the man you saw, girl."

"Short, rather fat. Light brown hair. He was holding a stick and pointed it at the ground..."

"She's a Muggle and a pretty unreliable witness." The familiar voice continued, dragging Maggie back to her present reality. "I was there that day, Harry. I performed those memory charms myself and…"

"Something went wrong, Kingsley!" Harry cried out suddenly and Maggie could swear she heard Harry's palms hit the wooden kitchen table. "Because she saw it! She dreams about it! Muggle or not, Maggie Thompson can prove that Sirius didn't kill Peter Pettigrew!"

"Harry, dear, please calm down." Mrs. Weasley's voice cut in and the young teacher could just picture the matronly woman moving over to comfort the boy. "Kingsley is on our side in this. He is in charge of the search for Sirius, after all."

"And there are a few realities about this situation that you are conveniently forgetting, Harry."

Maggie was pretty sure that was Bill's voice, but it could also have belonged to his father. She was still pretty shaken up by hearing the deep voice from her dreams when she heard it again.

"The Ministry doesn't want to hear anything about Sirius except that he's been captured and returned to Azkaban," The man with the deep voice explained patiently. "Magic for Muggles is an element of fiction, used to manipulate the mind into wonderful tales of fantasy that enthrall their imaginations into wishing it were real. To tell people that this woman has been introduced to the darker end of the tale would be enough to disturb even the most steady of rocks. And some people in the Ministry would make her out to be crazy, Harry. They would go to any lengths to discredit her story…especially once they find out that she is a friend of yours."

Maggie pursed her lips at that statement but couldn't give it another thought as Harry suggested, "Then we'll take her to Dumbledore. He will believe her and…"

Sirius' bark-like laugh interrupted Harry as he exclaimed, "Dumbledore? Harry the only person less popular than you at the Ministry right now is Dumbledore."

"Why can't you understand?" Harry cried and Maggie finally decided that she had to enter the kitchen.

As she descended the last few steps, the deep voice said again, "Yes I do understand, Harry. But I also understand that as far as the Ministry is concerned, all of the Muggles on the street that day think that there was a gas explosion. No wands, no magic, no people turning into little fluffy animals at a blink of an eye. And if we turn up out of the blue with this woman who says that is not true…"

"But it is true," Maggie announced, walking into the kitchen to find herself face to face with the same crowd from the night before and a tall dark man that seemed oddly familiar to her, "It's all true. It was the last thing I saw and it's coming back to me clearer than anything else. Last night, after being in this house, it was as if I could sense every step, every voice with an extra edge of clarity. I remember every little detail, and believe me, I remember who killed all those people." Nodding over at Sirius, who was standing near the fireplace with his arms crossed over his chest, she added, "He's not a murderer. And I'm ready to tell that to whoever will listen."

"Well, first we have to find someone willing to listen." Mr. Weasley muttered, moving out of the way as his wife brushed him aside and descended upon Maggie.

"Good morning, dear." Molly Weasley chirped cheerfully, taking Maggie by the arm and leading her through the crowd and over to the table. "How did you sleep? Are you hungry? We have eggs and bacon and toast…George, please make Maggie a cup of tea, will you?" Peering down at her, Molly continued without taking a breath, "What a pretty color shirt, dear. It really brings out your eyes."

Maggie was sure she heard Sirius snort from somewhere behind her, but her blue eyes were focused on the dark man in the long, royal blue robes staring at her from his seat in the corner. She could practically feel his eyes boring into her as she raised her eyes to meet his and asked quietly, "Do you remember me?"

Everyone in the room seemed to freeze at once as the two stared at each other for a few more moments before the man breathed, "It can't be."

"Your voice," Maggie whispered back, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe. "I know your voice. You were there…that day." The man nodded as he continued to study her and she started again, "My dream always ends after the explosion, but when I heard your voice a few moments ago…I remembered more. I remembered you."

"It is this house." Ginny remarked quietly, staring at Maggie as the young teacher continued to stare at Kingsley. "It's making your memories even more vivid than ever!"

"You spoke to me…on the street." Maggie continued as if Ginny hadn't spoken. "You asked me what happened."

"Maggie," The dark man finally said, seeming to break himself free from some sort of trance. "You couldn't have been more than ten at the time…"

"She was twelve." Harry interrupted.

But Kingsley kept talking as if Harry weren't even in the room, "But those eyes….I remember those eyes of yours. You told me that you had seen a small, fat man who was pointing a stick at the ground."

"And then you were gone." Maggie remembered.

"This is unbelievable." He breathed again and then looked beyond her over to Sirius and said, "That's why I never really believed that you were guilty…why I agreed to take over the search for you when Dumbledore assured me of your innocence. Because of her…a little blond girl with beautiful blue eyes." Looking back at Maggie, he added, "But I didn't perform the memory charm on you. Someone else did. Someone who…"

"…obviously wasn't as powerful a wizard as you are, Kingsley." Mr. Weasley stated, the pieces beginning to fit together for him. "You see? Something did go wrong…"

He didn't get to go any further as the conversation was interrupted by a horrible shrieking sound and Sirius simultaneously shouting, "Oh mother, shut up!"

Everyone seemed to spring into action as Sirius looked back at Maggie and stated, "He must not see her here."

"Sirius, Snape is…" Remus began to say but quickly shut his mouth when Sirius shot a deathly glare in his direction. "Fine, let's go. We'll meet up in the drawing room today."

"What's going on?" Maggie asked as everyone began disappearing up the stairs.

"Professor Snape is here." Ginny informed Maggie, setting down a plate of breakfast in front of her as if nothing strange were going on. "The Order of the Phoenix is going to meet upstairs today, I guess."

"But why don't they want him to see me?" Maggie asked, ignoring the food in front of her. "Isn't he a member of the Order?"

"Yes," Ginny shrugged, pouring a bit more tea into the mug that Maggie had never touched to warm it up, "but Sirius doesn't trust him. He's just protecting you."

"He seems to be doing a lot of that lately." Maggie muttered and then suddenly realized that they were the only two left in the kitchen. "Where did everyone else go?"

"To spy on the Order." Ginny answered simply, settling herself down across from Maggie at the table. "It's their favorite past time."

"But not yours?"

"Oh, I enjoy it," The redhead informed her with a grin. "But I didn't want to be rude and leave you here by yourself. Hermione or the twins will fill me in later."

"Oh." Maggie replied, as if she understood exactly what Ginny had just explained to her.

Maggie took a few bites of her eggs before Ginny remarked, "I like your shirt. It's a good color on you."

She almost choked on her breakfast as she swallowed and replied, "Because it brings out my eyes?"

"Yes, now that you mention it…" The younger girl replied, looking at Maggie strangely. But Ginny simply shook her head and said instead, "That was intense, huh? All that stuff with Kingsley?"

Maggie nodded and said, "I was always afraid that no one would ever believe me, you know? I would pretend to lie awake for hours on end as someone else's memories had a bachelor party in my head and my brothers and sister all thought I was nuts or that my imagination had gone into overdrive. It was always so hard to explain everything I had seen and heard in my dreams." Peering at Ginny's understanding face over the table she asked quietly, "What do you think is going to happen now?"

Ginny shrugged and said, "They'll probably talk it over with Professor Dumbledore…"

"Professor Dumbledore?"

"The Headmaster of Hogwarts." Ginny explained, stealing a piece of uneaten bacon off of Maggie's plate. "He's the most powerful wizard around. You'll like him."

Maggie nodded and was quiet for a minute as she picked at her eggs and finally asked, "The man who remembered me…"

"Kingsley Shacklebolt." Ginny supplied, crunching on Maggie's bacon. "He works for the Ministry."

"Yes, him…he said that the people at the Ministry wouldn't believe me because I was a friend of Harry's," Maggie continued, "And then Sirius said that this Professor Dumbledore was the only person less popular than Harry. Why is that?"

Ginny munched thoughtfully on her bacon before she said, "There are a great many parts to the story that I still don't understand, but I do know that Harry is a threat to the ministry and to Voldemort. I don't know why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry's father and mother, but when he returned a few months ago…the ministry didn't want to hear anything about it. Dumbledore tried to tell them what Harry had seen, but they have turned a blind eye and that's why Dumbledore got the Order of the Phoenix back together." The younger girl laughed at the confused look on Maggie's face and added, "This is a story with so many twists that even when you live it you can barely keep up with it. But don't worry, I'm sure that Sirius or Harry will explain it all to you soon."

"Now that I'm right in the middle of it?"

"Well, it's really important to Harry that Sirius' name be cleared." Ginny informed the teacher, folding her arms on the table in front of her. "Not only does it mean that he doesn't have to go back to the Dursley's, but it means that Sirius will be able to join in the fight against Voldemort…and that is what Sirius wants more than anything. So Harry wants it for him."

"Even if it means that one of them may die in the process?" Maggie asked, the words sending a shiver down her spine as soon as they left her lips. The reality of this world was just beginning to set in and it frightened her a bit more than she had anticipated.

"They both say that there are things worth dying for," Ginny shrugged, her voice tinged with sadness, "Harry would join the Order now if he could."

"He's not in the Order?" Maggie asked, suddenly realizing that Ginny had said that Harry and his friends were spying on the meeting instead of participating in the meeting.

"None of us are," Ginny informed her. "Not until we finish school."

"Oh." Maggie said again and turned back to her eggs as she tried to digest them and all of this new information. Looking up at Ginny again, she remarked innocently, "You seem to understand Harry pretty well, don't you?"

Maggie smiled as the young girl's face turned a color as red as her hair and knew something was up.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ginny asked suddenly as Maggie continued to eat her breakfast.

"Sure," Maggie replied, "as long as it doesn't have to do with dogs or rats or evil wizards."

The girl grinned and asked, "Why are boys so stupid?"

"Ah, boys," Maggie answered with a grin, "a subject I am much more familiar with." She raised her eyebrow at Ginny and asked slyly, "Are we talking about all boys in general or one boy in particular?"

"Is it obvious?" Ginny asked in alarm.

"Probably not to Harry." Maggie tried to assure her.

"He knows." The girl said glumly, and began to scratch the table with her fingernail. "But he pretends that he doesn't."

"So, why is he stupid?"

"Well, Harry and I are friends and everything…but there is so much that he won't share with me. He and Hermione and Ron are always locked up in their room, making plans that they won't include me on."

"What does Hermione say?"

"That there are things that I just don't understand," she answered glumly. "But I won't be able to understand if they don't let me in, right?"

"Well, maybe they are trying to protect you?" Maggie suggested. "It seems to be a common trait with the men around here."

"No," Ginny replied stubbornly, "they're always like that. The Holy Trio." Ginny screwed up her face as she said those last words mockingly before adding, "And it only gets worse when we go back to school. In a few days, I'll have lost my chance to get to know…"

"You're going back to school in a few days?" Maggie interrupted in alarm. "All of you?"

"Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George." Ginny informed her, looking at her strangely again. "The next term at Hogwarts begins September 1st."

"And what about your parents?" Maggie asked quickly, the wheels in her mind turning. "Are they staying here after you leave?"

"No," Ginny answered with a shake of her head, "they will go back to the Burrow…our house." It finally seemed to dawn on Ginny what Maggie was asking and her lips curled into a smile as she said, "And then you will be here alone with Sirius. That could be interesting."

Maggie tried to sound nonchalant as she asked, "Why is that?"

"I may only be 14, but I'm not blind!" Ginny exclaimed with a wicked grin. "The man is hot!"

Later, she would have sworn that time stood still. Maggie choked loudly on her bacon as she felt the color drain from her face, the remaining pigment of her disabled eyes flashing for an instant, like a long distance sensor ringing loudly in her head.

Alone with Sirius...

Her mind flashed briefly to the tingle that had gone through her when he had touched her skin with his calloused hands. Shaking that thought out of her mind, she asked, "But Remus will be here, won't he?"

"Yes, but he is gone a lot on mysterious business for the Order," Ginny said knowingly, "Sirius, on the other hand, can't leave the house. And neither can you."

"But…"

"Ginny!" Molly's voice suddenly filled the kitchen as she bustled through the doorway. "Come on upstairs. We are going to clean out a room for Maggie to sleep in while she is here." Turning to the young blond, the red headed woman clucked motherly, "We are going to have you out of Sirius' bed before nightfall, young lady."

"Do you need some help?" Maggie asked, standing up suddenly as Ginny silently shook with laughter at her mother's choice of words.

"Of course, dear." Molly said, heading back to the doorway. "We'll show you how witches take care of household chores. It will be a real education for you."

"Great." Maggie said as she followed the two Weasley women out of the kitchen and back up the stairs. This whirlwind of an existence, for her, had just become an emotional one.


	12. Understanding

Chapter Twelve - Understanding

_The evening of September 1, 1995_

The dank smell of the kitchen in Grimmauld Place was masked by the aroma of beef stew and apple tarts as Sirius ambled down the stone steps. Expecting Molly, he was pleasantly surprised to see Maggie standing in the middle of the room surrounded by an assortment of cast iron pots and discarded potato peels. Lit from behind by the light of a roaring fire, her hair shimmered like a golden halo as it surrounded her freshly scrubbed face. He almost had to laugh at her pursed pink lips and the determined glint of concentration in her eye as she attacked a defenseless potato with one of Molly's kitchen knives.

Strangely fascinated, Sirius watched as the strip of potato peel grew longer and wound into a tight curl, its stark white underside contrasting with the dirty, dark brown outer skin. Though it wasn't as aesthetically pleasing, it reminded him of the colorful curling ribbon one used on presents. The first curl soon lay in the heap on the table, but another one was already dangling above it. He watched it intently as it spiraled downward, even longer than the one before it until it finally fell onto the wooden tabletop.

Clearing his throat to alert her of his presence, Sirius said quietly, "I've never seen potatoes treated like that before."

Glancing up at him, a lock of blond hair fell across Maggie's face and Sirius fought the sudden urge to smooth it back with his fingers. Looking at him quizzically, she asked, "You've never seen anyone peel a potato before?"

Returning her smile, he informed her, "I usually stay out of the kitchen until the food is served. Plus, most of the people who inhabit the kitchens I have been in have spells to handle this particular task."

"I know," Maggie answered, blowing the stray lock of hair out of her eyes only to have it flop back down in the same place, "I watched Molly with complete envy last week. It almost had me wishing that I was a witch…just so I could get out of KP duty."

"KP duty?" He repeated, moving farther into the room and over to the fireplace. Lifting the lid from the pot and inhaling the delicious aroma from within, he smiled his approval as Maggie answered, "Kitchen Patrol. My father served in the American Army and was often assigned KP duty, which usually consisted of peeling potatoes."

"I didn't know you could cook." Sirius remarked, reaching out for a nearby spoon so that he could taste her culinary creation.

"With Molly around, I didn't have to cook." She answered, watching closely for his reaction as he tasted a bite of stew. When he raised his eyebrows in an obvious sign of approval, she smiled and continued, "Cooking is practically a religion where I grew up in Louisiana." A bit of wistfulness entered her tone as she added, "I would sit on the counter in my mama's kitchen for hours and watch her cook. She swore it was the only way to learn."

Setting the pot lid back on the stew, Sirius watched her closely as he asked quietly, "You were close to your family growing up?"

"Very." Maggie answered, avoiding his stare as she set about cutting up the potatoes into small chunks. Quietly, she added, "They'll begin to worry if they don't hear from me soon. It's been nearly two weeks."

Maggie had become such a regular fixture at Grimmauld Place since her arrival that Sirius had almost forgotten about her life out in the Muggle world. Remus and Arthur had made a call to the school where she taught to alert them of her sudden leave of absence and had sent a note to her Aunt Sarah informing the woman that her niece would be teaching abroad for the semester and would contact her soon. But they had apparently forgotten about the faraway family who would soon begin to miss their youngest daughter.

"We'll figure something out." He said gruffly, suddenly realizing the emotional price that Maggie was paying because of the new life she was forced to live in the wizarding world.

Quickly changing the subject in an attempt to keep her sudden tears at bay, she asked, "So, how was the trip to the train station? Did the kids get off okay?"

He nodded abruptly and answered, "They should be well on their way to Hogwarts by now."

"So the train that takes students to a school that no one outside of the wizarding world is supposed to know about leaves from King's Cross Station in the middle of London?" Maggie asked, scooping up the chunks of potato and motioning for him to remove the lid from the stew pot for her. Dumping the potatoes into the thick, brown gravy, she continued, "How does that work?"

"There is a magical platform that only wizards can access." Sirius replied, replacing the lid on the stew and moving over to the pantry. Removing two butterbeers and setting them on the table, he watched her gather up the potato peels as he said, "You would be surprised how often wizards and Muggles interact without even knowing it."

Maggie nodded as she turned away from the garbage and accepted the bottle that he offered. They drank their butterbeers in awkward silence for a few moments before Maggie asked, "And Harry was glad that you got to go along? I know that Molly was concerned about someone seeing you."

"It was a risk I was willing to take," Sirius informed her, "and it was a chance for me to get out and stretch my legs for a bit."

"Do you think anyone saw you?"

"I doubt it." He answered with a shrug, moving over to sit at the table.

"That's good," she replied lamely and then asked, "So Molly and Arthur headed back to the Burrow?" When he nodded, she asked again, "And Remus? Is he upstairs in the drawing room?"

"No, he had some business to attend to in Hogsmeade Village."

"Oh," Maggie said simply, resisting the urge to ask what a Hogsmeade Village was, and then asked, "Will he be back at all this evening?"

"Tiring of my company already, Miss Magnolia?" Sirius teased, looking up at her.

Feeling her cheeks burn with embarrassment, she stuttered, "No…I simply meant that…" she gestured to the pot of stew awkwardly and finished with, "I made a lot of stew and it would be a shame for it to go to waste if…"

"He'll be home eventually." Sirius reassured her.

Another awkward silence fell over the kitchen and the only sounds that could be heard were the crackling of the fire and the limping clock. Sirius resumed staring at the hearth and didn't speak again for a few minutes. Desperate for something to do, Maggie moved over to the hearth to see if the potatoes were cooking at an appropriate pace and then lamely remarked, "Dinner should be ready soon. Would you like some bread? I know that Molly baked a fresh loaf yesterday for us to eat from."

"Sounds good," he said without looking up. "You don't have to cook for me, you know. I mean, Molly did because she had a family around to feed and because that is what Molly does. But you are a guest here and not a…"

"I like to cook." Maggie reminded him, taking the bread down from a shelf. "And it gives me something to do."

"Besides stare at the walls?" Sirius asked knowingly. "If you use cooking as a cure for boredom around here, we are both going to weigh as much as this house by the end of the month."

Maggie smirked at him as she set about cutting the bread while he set out the plates and silverware for their meal. The scene was eerily domestic and an outside observer would surely confuse them for a newly married couple settling in for a romantic evening meal. Snickering under his breath at the absurdity of the thought, Sirius took out his wand and moved the pot over to the table so that Maggie wouldn't have to worry about burning her hands.

It had been a long time since Sirius had shared dinner with anyone outside of the Order and the silence that settled around them was more comforting than it was awkward this time. As her stomach tightened around the hearty meal, Maggie stole a look at Sirius' face. The deep shadows of firelight etched tales of hardship there -- the years since their last meeting on the street in Godric's Hollow had been unkind. She wondered how much of the cold steel in his eyes or the anger that sometimes set his mouth when he looked at her was really caused by her unexpected arrival. Maybe after such a long time spent wrongfully imprisoned, it was just his habit now to be bitter. But Maggie had the nagging suspicion that his bitterness was only a shell, as she had caught certain glimpses of a playful, protective, and passionate man just below the hard surface as they had spent time together over the last few weeks. When Sirius was with Harry…talking, laughing, or simply sitting together…the years seemed to lift from the dark haired man's face and the burden he carried upon his strong shoulders seemed to disappear. But now that Harry had gone back to school, Maggie wondered if she would catch any more glimpses of the man she suspected lurked beneath the dark exterior.

"What?"

Maggie shook her head in confusion as Sirius' voice suddenly pulled her out of her thoughts. "Excuse me?"

"You were staring at me." He informed her as his eyes bore into her. "Why?"

"I wasn't…" 

Sirius cut off her protest as he reminded her, "I am sitting two feet away from you and can tell when someone is staring at me. And you, Miss Magnolia, were staring. So now I want you to tell me why."

Maggie pursed her lips and then said honestly, "I was wondering if you are really the bitter and sullen man I met on my first evening here or if you are truly the fun loving free spirit that Remus and Harry speak so highly of and are constantly defending to me."

He narrowed his eyes at her and Maggie began to wish that she had bitten her tongue when he suddenly threw his head back and laughed. Looking at her again with a gleam in his eye, he asked, "You don't hold anything back, do you?"

"Well, the answer to my question will certainly affect my stay here." She answered defensively, not sure what to make of his laugh. "Because right now I never know from one minute to the next if you are going to tease me or turn me into a toad."

"I never learned how to transform Muggles into toads." He answered, raising his eyebrow at her in a slightly comical way. "But I think I could manage a pretty good coat tree."

Maggie giggled in spite of herself and she took a bite of her stew, but his tone was bitter as he reminded her, "I spent twelve years in prison for a crime that I didn't commit and I'd still be there if I hadn't escaped. It took a bit of a toll, so excuse me if I am not the laugh-a-minute young man that my friends remember…"

"I didn't mean to bring back painful memories for you." Maggie interrupted quietly. "I was simply trying to make conversation and apparently I chose the wrong topic."

She saw his fist tighten as he set his bottle of butterbeer down firmly on the table as he said, "Your question was not the cause of my memories resurfacing. Truth be told, there is barely a day that goes by when I am not affected by my time in Azkaban."

"I have heard that it is awful." She said quietly, playing with her stew.

Sirius turned his head and his shadowed gray eyes engaged her bright blue ones. Time stretched itself thin as spider silk while unspoken questions took shape in the space between them. Finally, Sirius whispered almost to himself, "They said that I was crazy. That I was insane because I sat in Azkaban for twelve years and acted normal. They said that I had killed twelve Muggles and one wizard. They said that I ratted out my two best friends and caused their deaths. They said I felt no remorse and that the dementors couldn't take my soul because I didn't have one."

Maggie felt sudden tears well up behind her eyes as he took a deep breath and continued, "But I did feel and I do have a soul. And every July 31st, I sat down in a corner of my cell and picked up a small rock. With this rock, I would write the words Dear Harry on the wall of my cell. I wrote my godchild a letter every year, wishing him a happy birthday, telling him that I was innocent, that I would be back for him soon, and that I was sorry."

Sirius took a long swig of his butterbeer and Maggie was silent as she wondered if he was going to say anymore. Staring at the back wall of the fireplace, he continued, "And every other day, I listened...watched...stared at the monotonous stone-gray walls, their pattern occasionally broken by a large patch of died blood. Men had been driven mad in the very chamber where I slept, and madmen had been driven to their deaths."

As fragmented impressions of a darkness that froze the very marrow of her soul began to play out in her mind, the first dawning of horrible understanding contorted Maggie's face and she squeezed her eyes shut with a shudder.

With his next words, Sirius articulated like teeth on a saw blade. "Feelings of love and hope attracted the dementors like Red Caps to blood. If I had dwelt on any happiness I had known, they would have devoured my soul and I truly would have gone insane. Memory in that place was death." 

"You were forced to have only unhappy thoughts for twelve years?" Maggie whispered in a voice that didn't even sound like her own.

"Until one day I realized that Peter Pettigrew had found refuge with the Weasley family and masqueraded as a pet rat, keeping an ear out for news of the Dark Side and his old master. I figured that Ron and Harry were in the same year at Hogwart's, so Wormtail would be in the perfect position to attack and no one would suspect a rat as a murderer…"

"The rat…Pettigrew…was going to murder Harry?" Maggie gasped in horror as Sirius nodded in affirmation. She tried desperately to digest this new bit of information as he continued,

"So I escaped…for Harry. To save Harry."

"How?" Maggie breathed, completely intrigued by Sirius' tale.

"I was a skinny mutt…but I was exceptional."

"Not to mention the fact that you were driven by your love for Harry and your desire for revenge on Wormtail." Maggie added before she could stop herself.

Sirius looked at her for a long time and she could tell that he was shocked by her understanding of his motives. Finally he said, "I was the first prisoner to ever escape Azkaban, and I didn't even belong there."

With their meal finished, Maggie and Sirius spent the next half hour in the kitchen watching the embers in the hearth burn themselves out. He was nursing the last ounces of his butterbeer, while she absently traced the engraving on her empty plate with a finger tip. Although he had already finished his dinner, she thought it was a good sign that Sirius had not risen to go or suggested that she must be tired and would want to get to bed early. They simply sat in front of their empty plates in silence, neither of them able to figure out how to continue their conversation.

Finally Maggie took another deep breath and asked quietly, "Why did you laugh?"

"I'm sorry?" He asked, dragging himself away from his thoughts and seemingly forcing himself to focus on her.

"That day…on the street." Maggie reminded him quietly. "You laughed when Peter disappeared. Why did you laugh?"

She conveniently left out the part about his laugh haunting her dreams for the last twelve years, but listened intently as he answered quietly, "It was one of those situations in which you have to dispense of so much emotion that you must either laugh or cry -- and I chose to laugh. Because I had already cried enough to last me a thousand lifetimes."

Whatever Maggie had been expecting him to say, that hadn't been it. He had already shared so much of himself with her that she debated whether to ask him any more questions. The possibility that he could completely shut down on her was very real, but Maggie pressed on anyway.

"What happened to make you cry?"

"That day…when you saw me on the street…was the day that Harry's parents were murdered." Sirius answered quietly and Maggie once again had to blink back the tears. "Peter Pettigrew had been our friend and he betrayed James and Lily to Lord Voldemort. I found out too late…I arrived too late, so I stood in front of a pile of rubble that used to be James and Lily's house and sobs shook my whole body because I knew what had happened."

If Maggie didn't know any better, she would have thought that Sirius swiped away some tears of his own, but he quickly covered up his actions and said in a stronger voice, "It hurt so much inside to know they were dead. James and Lily were two of my best friends and nothing could ever make up for their loss, their untimely death. The only thing left was revenge." He looked at her knowingly and continued, "And then I had that taken from me as well. The world came crashing down around me and it stopped spinning for an instant. Everything that mattered to me was gone…James, Lily, and even Harry had been taken away. Everything I had believed in, everything I had hoped for and trusted in was destroyed. It was all too much…something in my brain just snapped."

Drawn in by the raw emotion on his face, Maggie unthinkingly reached across the table and clasped his hand between the two of hers. To the complete and utter surprise of both of them, he didn't instinctively pull away from her soft, calming touch. Instead, Sirius absent mindedly covered her hands with his free one and began to trace small circles on her skin with his thumb as she whispered, "You were delirious with grief and shock. All you could do was laugh."

Their eyes met and a deep sense of understanding passed between the brave young schoolteacher and the wrongly convicted prisoner. They suddenly shared much more than a connection and an unwavering loyalty to Harry, though neither would be able to explain it if asked.

But any further conversation was forgotten when a great, silver lynx suddenly bounded down the kitchen steps and sat down on its haunches next to Sirius. To Maggie's astonishment, it began to speak in Kingsley Shacklebolt's deep, reassuring voice…

"Dumbledore wants to see you, Sirius. Bring the Magnolia."


	13. Headed to Hogwarts

Chapter Thirteen - Headed to Hogwarts

"What does one wear to meet the most powerful Headmaster of the Wizarding World?"

Sirius stopped clearing the dinner dishes from the table and turned to look at Maggie as she stood uncertainly at the door leading to the kitchen steps. His face twisted into an expression that combined amusement and disbelief as he remarked, "Are you joking?"

"Not really," came Maggie's embarrassed reply.

"We are risking our safety by sneaking into Hogwarts to possibly clear me of false murder charges and you are worried about whether or not your shoes should match your shirt?" He asked incredulously.

"No," Maggie corrected him sharply, suddenly defensive, "I just don't know…I've never met a…Is there a dress code or something that I should…?" She was at a loss for words and so she finally just allowed her shoulders to sag as she admitted, "I don't want to offend anyone."

"I think the only way that you could offend Dumbledore would be if you showed up naked," Sirius teased, grinning at the sudden picture he was conjuring up in his mind. "Although, I'm pretty sure that no one else would mind…"

"Sirius! I'm serious!"

Their eyes connected again and they both burst out laughing at her unintentional play on words.

"That's one I never heard before." He teased sarcastically, still chuckling as he resumed taking the plates to the sink.

"I'm sure," Maggie remarked with a grin, but then added quickly, "This is really serious…I mean, important…for you and I don't want to do anything to…"

Putting the plates down and crossing the kitchen in a few short strides, Sirius grabbed her by the shoulders so that she was forced to look at him and said playfully, "Snap out of it, woman! Apparating into a wizard living room and finding out that your favorite pupil can turn you into a toad with a flick of his wand didn't even freak you out this much. You are on the verge of sending yourself into a tizzy!"

Maggie had to grin at his tone. Sirius Black's entire demeanor had changed drastically ever since the silver lynx had pranced into the kitchen. He was going back to Hogwarts. Hogwarts…the place where Harry was and the place where his nightmare of solitary confinement may finally come to an end. Gone was the sullen and depressed air that seemed to follow his around the house. He was practically as giddy as a schoolboy. She had been wondering if she would ever catch a glimpse of this Sirius that so many people seemed to adore, and now he was standing right in front of her.

Very close in front of her, actually. Close enough so that his musky scent and warm breath were making her a bit dizzy.

The teasing grin fell from his lips as he looked down at her with an expression that Maggie didn't recognize. And just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone and the smile was back as he assured her, "Albus Dumbledore is just a man, Maggie. A wise and powerful man, yes, but a man all the same. And whatever you wear will be fine…"

"Not from what I have heard." She interrupted, ignoring the tingling sensation coursing through her arms where his hands still touched her skin. "People around here spoke about him with absolute reverence…especially Harry. They made him seem like a rock star or something."

"Well then, by all means, go change into what you would wear to meet a Muggle rock star." He teased, finally freeing her arms from his grasp. "But do remember to wear your…panties, is that what you Muggles call them?"

Maggie's eyes narrowed and she inhaled sharply as she asked, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

His eyes twinkling, Sirius answered innocently, "Isn't it custom for Muggle girls to throw their panties at their favorite rock stars? I would be remiss if I didn't warn you that is strictly a Muggle custom and Dumbledore would not take kindly to being hit in the face with a pair of your pretty britches…"

"Sirius! I haven't done that in years!" Maggie exclaimed, reddening in the face as she realized what she had just admitted to him. His smile grew wider at her embarrassment until he finally threw his head back and laughed. It was not the throaty, bark like sound that she was accustomed to hearing but the joyous, carefree laugh of a man who was truly enjoying his current moment in time. She reveled in the sound for a moment before turning away from him to head up the stairs.

Once up in her room on the third floor of Grimmauld Place, Maggie set about rummaging through the drawers of her bureau which were filled with the colorful clothes that Tonks had purchased for her. Every article of clothing which seemed so brilliant and unique when worn in the confines of the dark House of Black suddenly didn't seem appropriate enough to meet the Headmaster of Hogwarts School. She wanted to make a good impression after all…she was, by trade, a teacher herself and knew the importance of impressing a Headmaster. 

Remembering the skirt and blouse she had been wearing on the night she arrived at Grimmauld Place, Maggie dug deeper into her drawers as she tried to locate the outfit in question.

"Where is it?" she wondered aloud as she pulled open her top drawer to search it again. "I was wearing it that first night and then I took it off to change into the nightshirt that Molly gave me…Sirius' room! I was in Sirius' room when I took it off."

Taking one last desperate look in the drawer for her clothes, she muttered "Damn." under her breath and then quietly began to climb the stairs to the Master Bedroom. She pushed the door to Sirius' room open slowly and let her eyes adjust to the sudden darkness within. The small amount of light coming from the flickering lamp in the corner made it possible for Maggie to scan the room until she noticed a familiar pile of neatly folded clothes sitting on the chair next to the lamp. Making her way over to the chair, Maggie stopped short when she noticed the picture hanging on the wall just above the lamp.

It was the only photograph in the room…in the entire house, from what Maggie could tell…and Maggie moved closer to get a better look. The four boys in the picture couldn't have been much older than Harry and Ron were now and they were joking around as if they didn't have a care in the world. A young and eternally handsome Sirius Black stood in the middle with his arm around a boy who looked very much like Harry. But the young man in the photo had no scar on his forehead and Maggie realized immediately that it must be Harry's father, James Potter. She shifted her eyes slightly and they came to rest upon another familiar face as Maggie suddenly became conscious of the fact that Remus Lupin had been quite a handsome man in his youth. She wondered briefly what had happened to transform him into the shabby, scarred man she had come to know and like. But her thoughts of Remus quickly flew from her brain as she settled her gaze upon the fourth boy in the picture and she froze. The traitor…

"Peter Pettigrew."

She spat out the name as if she'd plucked it out of a hat and her mouth instantly engaged to expel the treacherous words. She had heard it repeated by many, many voices, in both waves of sympathy and gasps of awe by the various individuals who graced the scene in Godric's Hollow after its destruction. And she had heard it fall from the lips of Harry and his friends as their words dripped with contempt. But most importantly, she had heard it spat through the gritted, bitter teeth of a dark haired man whose eyes flashed with the extremities of grief and vengeance - Sirius.

Peter was to blame for all that had happened to Harry and his parents and to Sirius and so many others. He was the rat.

Maggie quickly grabbed her pile of clothes and hurried back down to her room to change. Sliding her feet into her pumps, she clicked her way back down the steps into the kitchen to find Sirius standing in front of the fireplace. If she hadn't known better she would have thought he was talking to himself…or someone else.

Hearing her approach, Sirius turned away from the fireplace and gave her a once over with his eyes before saying, "You look very nice…"

"He was your friend." Maggie blurted out, interrupting his compliment.

"Excuse me?"

"Peter Pettigrew." She spat out the name again as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. "He was in that picture you have hanging in your room upstairs."

"What were you doing in my room?" He asked, eyeing her skeptically. "You have a room of your own now and…"

"I had to find my skirt. I left it in your room on that first night." Maggie informed him quickly, gesturing down to her outfit. "But that's not the point. Peter Pettigrew was your friend."

"Yes, I told you that." He reminded her, still looking at her strangely.

"But you didn't tell me that he was a good friend to both you and Harry's father. A good enough friend to be included in the only photograph you have in this entire house." Maggie protested angrily and then her eyes and tone softened as she said, "Sirius, I'm so sorry…"

"There is no need for you to be sorry," He told her quietly. "You are not the one who betrayed your friends and was instrumental in their deaths."

"And neither were you." Maggie whispered back, causing him to look at her sharply. But before he could say anything else, she asked, "How did it happen? How did he come to betray them?"

Sirius pursed his lips in exasperation and muttered, "Dumbledore is waiting for us…"

"Sirius, please," Maggie pleaded, reaching out to touch his arm and stop his sudden movement. "Please. Before I see Harry again, I want to know what happened to his parents. And to you. I need to understand."

He watched her for a few moments with those piercing and haunting gray eyes of his before he took a deep breath and began, "Dumbledore found out that James and Lily were to be the next target, the next pawns in Voldemort's deadly game. They needed to be protected. So he suggested this ancient spell where their location would be concealed within a person's living soul, and remain there unless this…Secret Keeper…chose to divulge it. They had to choose someone they trusted with their lives…and Harry's."

"So they chose Peter?"

The silence engulfed the room in a sober fashion and she could feel the Sirius' burning stare like something that transcended her limited senses. And his next statement sent her into a spiral of total confusion.

"No, they chose me."

"But…" Maggie suddenly interjected, feeling a huge sense of injustice well in her chest as she unknowingly clenched his arm with her unsteady fingers. "But I thought…" She shook her head in disbelief and stuttered, "You couldn't have been. You were the one seeking Wormtail out, screaming about trust and betrayal. You had him pinned up against the wall and…"

Maggie paused, her breath lengthening as she cast her mind back to the dream that wasn't really a dream at all. She could feel the oncoming winter chill rustling through the crowd when the black dog appeared and she could hear the voices, muffled in her memory, too disguised to clearly make out.

"You were so angry," she whispered, her eyes widening. "You were so very angry at him. And then he killed all of those innocent people…"

"Lily and James changed it, Maggie." Sirius informed her gently, pulling away from her tightening grasp and capturing her trembling hands in his stronger ones. "At my request, they changed their secret keeper to Peter."

"Why?"

"Because I thought that I was smarter than Voldemort." Sirius confessed, dropping her hands and turning back toward the fireplace. "I figured that I was the obvious choice and that having Peter be the Secret Keeper would, in the end, keep the Potter's safer. No one would have expected someone like Peter to be given such an important job and…." His voice trailed off and he was quiet for a moment before he said, "I told you that I have a habit of making hasty decisions which cause people pain and that one turned out to be the worst of them all. It was supposed to be for their benefit and ended up blowing up in all of our faces…literally."

Maggie could sense that his attempt at a joke hid the guilt that he still carried with him, so she stepped closer and whispered, "You couldn't have known…"

But before she could finish the sentiment, he turned back around abruptly and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Maggie looked puzzled, but finally nodded her head and he gestured toward a plaque that he had set at the end of the table. As she moved closer, Maggie could see the Black Family Crest engraved in pure gold against the dark mahogany wood. Looking up at him, she asked, "What is this?"

"It's called a Portkey." He explained, pulling her hand away as she reached out to trace the engraving. "A Portkey is an object enchanted to bring anyone who touches it to a specific location."

"Your family crest is going to take us to Hogwarts?"

"Most Portkeys are everyday objects that would not draw the attention of Muggles. This is probably not the first you have ever seen." An evil smile came to his face as he added, "My dear mother would scream bloody murder if she knew that I was using the beloved family crest to transport a Muggle to Hogwarts." He chuckled to himself but his tone turned serious as he added, "We will arrive on the grounds outside of the castle, but Dumbledore will send us a way to get inside without being seen. You must stay close to me so that you don't wander into the Forbidden Forest or the Black Lake in the darkness."

"Forbidden Forest?" Maggie repeated, her eyes wide.

"Just stay close to me." Sirius assured her with a smile. "I won't let anything happen to you." 

Maggie nodded at him and then asked, "So, what do I do?"

He took her hand again and placed it on the crest as he warned, "Don't let go." He grabbed her free hand in his and then placed his other hand on the crest as he said, "Here we go. One…two…three…"

Before she could figure out what was happening, it felt as if someone were tugging her from behind with a large hook and in the blink of an eye the kitchen disappeared around them. The next thing she knew, Maggie and Sirius were tumbling across a great lawn as if they were gymnasts in a circus.

The sun had slipped beneath the horizon and the sky was a kaleidoscope of lazy blues, oranges, pinks, and purples as she stared up at it from her position on the ground. She was lying on top of a rock or some other hard object and shifted her body into a new position.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded, turning her head to the side to see Sirius lifting himself off the ground.

"Shhh!" he warned, moving over to help her up to her feet.

And before she could ask any more questions, Maggie felt herself being lifted into the air as a pair of beefy arms slipped underneath hers. She twisted around to find herself pressed against the stomach of a very large and very hairy crazy man.

"Come with me." 

Completely petrified with fear, Maggie instinctively kicked her legs until she connected with a shin that had to be the size of a tree trunk and demanded, "Put me down!"

The giant man only grunted in response and began running toward a large group of trees directly in front of them.

The Forbidden Forest!

"Siriu-…" Maggie managed to yelp before a large hand covered her mouth and the ground began to shake beneath them.


	14. Welcome to Hogwarts

Chapter 14 - Welcome to Hogwarts

"Ow! Yeh bit me!"

The large hand that had been covering Maggie's mouth loosened it's grip as she sunk her teeth into it's calloused flesh. After taking a large gulp of night air, she once again tried to wriggle herself free from the giant man's grasp as she screamed, "Put me down! Damn you, put me down!"

"Shhhhh!" came the gruff reply and his steel-like grip tightened around her midsection until it felt as if the petite teacher's ribs were going to splinter into a million pieces. Maggie's eyes widened as she noticed that they were only feet away from the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Craning her neck to see what fate had befallen Sirius, she was surprised to see the big, black dog trotting happily behind them.

"Sirius?" Maggie tried to say, but the pressure on her ribcage was limiting her ability to speak. And before she could try to free herself again, the giant man made a quick turn and stumbled through the door of a small, wooden cabin on the edge of the forest.

Maggie blinked quickly as her crazy captor dropped her unceremoniously on a large bed in the corner of the cabin that she quickly realized was someone's home.

"Get on in 'ere, quick!"

Moving over to the door, the large man with the long, tangled beard and bushy, black hair ushered Sirius the dog into the cabin, where he promptly transformed himself back into a man. Maggie, growing accustomed to this little habit of his, didn't even blink an eye.

"Maggie…"

"What is going on here?" she demanded, struggling to lift herself out of the middle of the super soft, oversized bed. Finally pulling herself to the edge and standing up, she glared at Sirius and began to shout, "If this was your idea of a joke, I can assure you that it wasn't funny! I have never been so scared in my…"

"It's alright, Maggie." Sirius said soothingly, although he seemed to be biting back an amused smile. "Just calm down…"

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" Maggie hissed, her eyes snapping with anger. "I was just transported through time and space from your kitchen to the middle of nowhere and then grabbed out of the darkness by a…" 

She looked over at Hagrid, who suddenly looked more like a big teddy bear standing near the fireplace than the frightening figure who had captured her in the darkness, and something within her couldn't bear to call him the name that was on the tip of her tongue, so she simply sputtered, "…by HIM!" Fire still dancing in her eyes, Maggie demanded, "Now somebody better tell me what the hell is going on here!"

A low rumbling laugh escaped the large man who was setting a teapot on the fire and he shook his head as he remarked, "Yer' girl has got quite a mouth on her, eh Sirius? Yeh really got yourself a feisty one there, I see."

"I am not his girl!" Maggie snapped. Being laughed at by this large, strange man was only adding to her anger. Turning back to Sirius, she asked, "Why don't you start by telling me who this ogre is…"

"I am not an ogre!"

"Than who are you?" she shot back without thinking and then stepped back a bit in fear that she had angered the giant.

But somewhere in the midst of all of the hair on his face, his lips curled into a smile as he extended his hand and introduced himself, "Rubeus Hagrid, at yer' service ma'am." He shook her hand and pumped her arm so hard that it felt as if it were going to come out of it's socket as he added, "It's always a pleasure to meet a fella teacher."

"You're a teacher?" Maggie asked skeptically, reaching up to rub her shoulder as he let her hand go.

"I teach 'ere at Hogwarts." Hagrid said, puffing himself up with pride. "Care of Magical Creatures."

"I see." She answered, not really understanding at all. "And how did you know that I was a teacher?"

"Harry tole me."

"You know Harry?" Maggie asked, suddenly excited. After everything that had happened to her that evening, she had almost forgotten the real reason for their journey.

"He's a friend eh mine." Hagrid told her with a smile. "An' yours, I reckon."

"Yes, he is." The blond answered, returning his smile.

"And if he's a friend of Harry's, he can't really be that bad…can he?" Sirius reminded her quietly, as if he could read her mind. "Hagrid is one of the good guys, Maggie. He's a member of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Oh." Maggie could feel herself blush as she remembered her earlier behavior, so she tried to explain, "I'm sorry, Hagrid. It just that I thought you were taking me into the Forbidden Forest and….well, why did you grab me and cover my mouth like that? It was very frightening."

"So's nobody would hear yer carrying on, of course." Hagrid told her simply, pulling a tea cup out of one of the enormous pockets of his coat. "Yeh ne'er know who or what is lurking about the grounds these days."

"Right." Maggie agreed and then glared at Sirius, "But somebody could have warned me that it was going to happen."

Sirius held his hands up in his own defense, but it was Hagrid who answered, "It ain't Sirius' fault. Your escort to the castle is runnin' a bit late an' I didn't think yeh should be wandering around all by yourselves. Sirius coulda been seen."

"Our escort?" Sirius asked, watching Hagrid pour some tea into a pair of mismatched cups. "Who?"

"Yeh'll see." The gentle giant answered with a secretive grin. "But why don't yeh have a cup 'o tea while yeh wait?"

Maggie, who was completely focused on the very large dog advancing on her with interest, was not paying attention to the men's conversation and she yelped helplessly when an oversized tongue shot out of the dog's mouth and licked her face. "Hagrid!"

Hagrid turned around just in time to see Maggie fall over a pair of his large shoes in her attempt to escape from the dog's tongue. "Fang!" Hagrid commanded in his gruff voice. "Lay down." The dog looked up at his master innocently, but then jumped up on the bed to obey his orders. To Maggie, Hagrid explained, "It jus' means he likes yeh. He looks frightening, but he's harmless."

"That's happened to me a lot recently." Maggie remarked dryly, looking over at both Sirius and Hagrid. Sirius again seemed to be holding back his laughter, so Maggie ignored him and accepted the teacup that Hagrid offered. Taking a sip of the bitter liquid, she would have spit it out immediately had Hagrid not been looking at her expectantly for a reaction to his concoction. Forcing herself to swallow the sip, she smiled up at him and choked out, "It's good."

The large man beamed with pride and gestured to the pot as he said, "Well, there's plenty more." Maggie raised her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Sirius as Hagrid opened his front door and announced, "I have to go check on Gra-…I mean, somethin' in the forest. So, makes yerselves at home until yer escort arrives. I'm sure I'll be seein' ya again, Miss Maggie."

"It was nice to meet you, Hagrid." Maggie said warmly, smiling up at her new friend. "Thank you for your hospitality."

If Maggie could see more of his face she would have sworn that Hagrid blushed before he disappeared back out into the darkness. Shaking her head, she walked carefully across the room to the table and poured the rest of her tea back into the pot. Turning to say something to Sirius, she paused as she watched him run his fingers over the table top listlessly and sat staring into space.

"Sirius?"

Not looking away from the fire, Sirius answered quietly, "This used to be my favorite place in the world. Here at Hogwarts, I was truly at home…with my friends and our crazy adventures. But in four short days fourteen years ago, my whole world fell apart."

"You're back now." She reminded him quietly, not really understanding his meaning.

"Not really. Not in the way it should be." He disagreed, looking away from the fire and into his untouched tea cup. "I haven't been free to roam around these grounds in a long time. Life was just easier here." Sirius finally looked up sadly and told her, "We were so proud, so sure of ourselves. So invincible…like the kings of Hogwarts. We were like all teenagers, I suppose. Invincible. But the feeling had continued long after our adolescence, years after our graduation - until that awful Halloween night."

He closed his eyes against the pain. He would never see their faces again, she realized. And being here…where their friendship had begun and flourished, the pain was coming back to him in overwhelming waves.

"James, Lily...so much lost in such a short time." Sirius continued quietly, shaking his head. "So much lost for the defeat of one wizard. Was it worth it? Years ago I would have said that any price was worth the defeat of Voldemort. Now, with Harry…and you…in the middle of all of this danger, I'm not so sure anymore."

"Well," Maggie mused softly, "you won't have to worry about me being in danger after tonight."

"What are you talking about?"

"My purpose here is about to be served." Maggie reminded him, folding her hands in front of her on the table. "I will tell Professor Dumbledore what I know about the night you were arrested and then I can be on my way back to my life."

"What in Merlin's name gave you that idea?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "You aren't here simply to clear my name. I mean, you are here…at Hogwarts…to do so, but you are still living among the wizards because you are in danger. We still don't know if that Death Eater saw you with Harry outside of Grimmauld Place. Remus has not been able to talk with Severus about what was seen that night without revealing the fact that you are hiding out at headquarters."

"I didn't think you were serious about that." Maggie admitted sheepishly. When he looked at her sternly, she explained, "To get me to stay and tell people what I knew about Peter Pettigrew…I thought you just made up that bit about me being in danger."

Sirius jerked his head around to look straight at her. "You still don't understand what you've landed yourself in the middle of, do you?" he barked impatiently, bouncing a fist on the table to punctuate his words. "People died in this war before; my best friend and his wife, two of Molly's brothers, my brother, not to mention plenty of random Muggles who just got in the way!"

"I didn't ask to be in the way…"

"But you are, nonetheless!" He reminded her loudly. Realizing that he was shouting at her, he lowered his voice and said, "We are trying to protect you. I have seen what Voldemort can do to people who get in his way. You and I are not simply playing house at Grimmauld Place and…"

The door to Hagrid's hut suddenly burst open and Harry and Ginny burst through, out of breath and in a fit of laughter.

"I totally won!" Ginny was giggling, brushing her windswept hair out of her face.

"I let you win." Harry retorted with a smile, straightening his glasses.

"By tripping over that root and landing flat on your face?" The redhead shot back, smiling at him triumphantly. "Face it Potter, you got beat by a girl."

Harry opened his mouth as if he were going to respond, but then seemed to suddenly realize that Sirius and Maggie were in the room with them and said, "Hey guys, long time no see!"

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Maggie." Ginny chimed in, grinning over at her new friend.

"What are you two doing here?" Sirius asked, rising from the table.

"We're here to take you up to the castle." Harry replied, looking at the pair of them as if he knew that he and Ginny had interrupted a tense conversation.

"How are you going to do that?"

"With this." Harry told them, pulling out a cloak from the front of his shirt.

"Brilliant!" Sirius laughed, taking the cloak from Harry and holding it up.

"And what is that?" Maggie asked, eyeing the garment suspiciously.

"An invisibility cloak," Ginny explained, "When you stand beneath it, you become invisible to people and wizards."

"I don't think all four of us will fit under there." Maggie said, watching in awe as Sirius' body disappeared into the walls of Hagrid's house as he held the cloak in front of him.

"All four of us won't," Harry informed her, "but the two of you will."

"And what about the two of you?"

Harry put an arm around Ginny's shoulders and joked, "We are Hogwarts newest couple…out for a romantic stroll in the moonlight."

Maggie saw Ginny's skin flush a deep scarlet and knew that the young girl wished that it was more than just a game to Harry. Recovering quickly and playing along, she added, "That's our cover story. And if Professor Umbridge or Filch catches us, they'll take the two of us directly to Dumbledore's office…which is where everyone will be anyway."

"Pretty good plan," Sirius remarked with a grin, smiling proudly at his godson.

"It was Ginny's idea," Harry informed them, looking down at the youngest Weasley. "Brilliant, isn't it?" He removed his arm from around Ginny's shoulders and asked, "So are you two ready to disappear?"

Maggie and Sirius both nodded and with one quick movement Sirius draped the cloak over the pair of them.

"You'll have to stay close together." Ginny remarked slyly as she opened the door to Hagrid's hut and led the way out into the night. "If not, the cloak will shift and someone might see your feet."

"I know how it works." Sirius reminded Ginny and then looked down at Maggie as he remarked playfully, "Sirius Black, at your service, madam." His eyes lighted on Maggie with a flicker of amusement as he lifted her hand to his lips. She could feel the smirk teasing the corner of his mouth as he placed his arm around Maggie's shoulder and pulled her close to his lean body.

As the four of them began to walk, Sirius leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I think these two would appreciate some private time." He nodded towards Harry and Ginny, who were walking ahead of them and doing a bit of whispering themselves. "We'll slow down at bit…I know the way."

Maggie looked up at him in astonishment and asked, "How did you know? About Harry and Ginny?"

"Is there something to know?" he asked teasingly, clearly enjoying being back on the grounds of Hogwarts.

"Not yet," Maggie answered, nodding toward the younger couple. "But this looks promising."

"Good," Sirius stated matter of factly, "I like young Ginny. She understands Harry in a way that some others never will. And Potter men have a penchant for redheads."

The sky was a velvety midnight blue perfumed with jasmine and warm dry grass. Sirius and Maggie walked side by side as they trailed Harry and Ginny, saying nothing, but comfortable in that silence. While his closeness gave her that dizzy feeling she had been experiencing in his presence lately, she also felt a strange sort of peace and security fall about her shoulders.

As the moon rose nearly full, Sirius looked at it and grinned. Maggie glanced at him, "What's so funny?"

"Oh, I used to have special plans for nights like these."

"Really?"

"Yes, a group of us always got together to…" He paused and chuckled to himself as he finished, "…celebrate the full moon."

Maggie looked at him strangely, but fell into step with him as they continued up the long,  
circuitous path that wound around the grounds, past the lake, and toward the castle.

"Look," Sirius whispered, awe in his voice as they came over a short hill and Hogwarts castle came into view.

Maggie gasped involuntarily and stopped short, causing Sirius to have to do the same. The castle was _beautiful_. In the darkness the school shone like a beacon, nearly every window lit. She could make out three tall towers, one of them with an enormous bronze-colored telescope protruding from the roof.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Sirius breathed, gazing up at his alma mater himself. "Every time I see it I am brought back to the moment of my first glimpse of this grand castle. I was sailing across the lake under a star filled, inky sky. It had seemed to me, as an eleven-year-old, far too impressive a place for me to live, far too majestic. But it soon became my home…my safe haven. I can't wait until the day when I am free to come back and roam the grounds once more."

Maggie could hear an almost reverent tone in his voice as Hogwarts loomed before them as though a mountain carved into a castle, like a child would mold sand into the same. As they walked up the front steps, the sound was hollow and engulfed within the weather worn slabs of stone that made up the steps. The doors before them were large and reminded her of a set of doors that led through time.

Harry looked back as if he could sense that Maggie and Sirius were still behind them and then reached up to knock three times on the wooden doors. They were ten foot high and five foot wide, with the Hogwarts crest ornately carved into each one. It was only a matter of seconds before a tall, rather severe-looking woman, with her hair drawn into a tight bun at the back of her head, opened up the great doors and ushered them inside.

"We're in, Minerva." Sirius whispered once he and Maggie had crossed over the threshold into Hogwarts.

"Welcome back, Snuffles." she whispered, letting a small smile creep into her prim expression. "You know where to go."

Sirius nodded and Maggie tried to keep up as the foursome walked quickly down one darkened corridor after another with only the light of Harry's wand to guide their way. Finally, when they got to the second floor, they stopped in front of a stone gargoyle where Harry muttered, "Fizzing Whizbee."

Maggie looked on in confusion as the statue moved aside to reveal a moving staircase that reminded the young teacher of an escalator at a fine department store.

"Let's go," Sirius said, urging Maggie forward. She stepped onto the stair just below Ginny and Sirius followed as they slowly spun their way up to the Headmaster's office.

"This place is…" Maggie looked around and was at a loss for words, so she simply said, "…amazing."

"It gets better." Harry grinned down at her as they stepped off the staircase and stood in front of a highly polished wooden door. The doors opened and they walked into a large and beautiful circular room illuminated by brightly burning candles and lamps.

An elderly gentleman with bright blue eyes, flowing silver hair and a matching mustache and beard was suddenly standing in front of them. Sirius quickly removed the invisibility cloak and the older man smiled warmly down at Maggie. Something about that smile made her trust him immediately and she suddenly felt more at ease.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, my fair Magnolia," Dumbledore said in a smooth and comforting voice, "We have been waiting for you."


	15. When Maggie Met Dumbledore

**Author's Notes:**

**Hey everyone! I'm back! It's beautiful autumn weather here in my neck of the woods, so I have been out enjoying that with the kids instead of writing. But I finally settled in last night and got the next chapter up!**

**I once read a fanfic that introduced a race called Empaths and I just thought it was a beautiful power to have. But, I can't remember the fic or where I read it! I think it was a CHARMED fic, but I couldn't find it when I went searching for it. That didn't stop me from stealing the idea, though! If anyone knows where I may have read the fic that gave me the idea, please let me know so that I can credit the author for the idea.**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen - When Maggie Met Dumbledore**

Standing before Dumbledore, Maggie realized that he was as eccentric as Sirius and Harry had colored him. At that moment, he wore a deep purple cloak and in violet he had stitched A.D onto the back.

"It helps me remember which one is mine," the older wizard told the young teacher as his twinkling eyes caught her eyeing him with wary interest. Speaking of his eyes, they were framed by half-moon glasses that reminded Maggie specifically of her Grandfather's, but she shook her head as she remembered that those were buried with him last year.

Her mouth was hanging open in what seemed like shock and Dumbledore nimbly tapped it closed with one of his spindly fingers. He then proceeded to stare unblinkingly into her eyes and suddenly, without him saying anything or doing anything, Maggie knew that behind his brave and slightly bizarre façade, he was a kind and gentle mentor.

A laugh bubbled out of Dumbledore's throat as he studied Maggie's face and said softly, "You look so much like your aunt."

It felt as if all of the oxygen had suddenly been sucked out of the Headmaster's office when every eye in the room shifted and was focused on Albus Dumbledore.

"Her aunt?"

Harry was the first one able to regain his powers of speech as he looked back and forth between Maggie and Dumbledore.

"You know her aunt?" Sirius repeated, apparently finding his voice box as well.

"You are Sarah Thompson's niece, am I correct?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly, picking what looked like a lemon drop from a pewter bowl on his shelf. Offering the bowl to Maggie, he continued, "She is the woman whom you were with on that fateful November day in Godric's Hollow."

"Yes, but how…"

"She has lived in Godric's Hollow all of her life?" Dumbledore interrupted as Maggie numbly accepted the lemon drop and he turned to offer the bowl to Ginny, who gingerly took a candy but never took her eyes off of her Headmaster.

"Yes." Maggie told Dumbledore's back as he continued to offer the yellow candies around the room. But it seemed to Maggie that he already knew the answer to his own query, so she questioned, "You know my Aunt Sarah?"

"Very well." Dumbledore assured them, as Maggie suddenly realized that Kingsley Shacklebolt was standing quietly in a far corner of the Headmaster's office, observing all that was taking place. She tore her eyes away from the auror as the older man continued, "Lovely, lovely woman. You would be the child of her brother Andrew, would you not?"

"You knew my father?" Maggie asked in surprise, the lemon drop that she was about to pop in her mouth halted in mid-air.

"By name only." Dumbledore informed her, settling himself down in the chair behind his large desk. "He left for America before I had the pleasure of meeting him. There was quite a large age difference between the two Thompson siblings, yes?" Maggie shook her head in affirmation as Dumbledore continued, "He left home when he was eighteen and Sarah would tell me such stories of his adventures in the American army, of how he met a beautiful girl in Louisiana and how he would probably never return to London."

"I don't understand…."

"Of course you don't," he assured her with a smile. "I wouldn't expect you to. Sarah never fully embraced her talents and was ashamed of them. I suppose, therefore, that she kept them hidden from her family.

"Talents?"

This time it was Sirius who answered and Maggie was quickly reminded that there were other people in the room.

Looking kindly down at Maggie, Dumbledore asked, "You are very close to your aunt, are you not?" Maggie nodded again and was about to say more when he continued, "And she is very good with people's feelings, isn't she? As if she can read your every thought and emotion?"

Maggie had never thought about it before that very moment, but it was a perfect description of her aunts uncanny ability to always know what to say at the right time. It **was** as if Aunt Sarah could always look in and read Maggie's thoughts. It was one of the things Maggie loved most about the woman.

"Well, she didn't technically see your thoughts, my dear Magnolia, rather she knew your emotions. Why, you may ask? It's simple. Magnolia Lee Thompson, your aunt is an Empath."

Dumbledore nodded his head as if assuring himself of the fact as Maggie gave him a strange look and then voiced her question, "Empath?"

"She can feel our emotions," Ginny said suddenly, her eyes bright with excitement and information. "Professor McGonagall was talking about their race during class one day last term." She turned to Maggie and explained, "She said they were nearly extinct."

"Yes, Miss Weasley, you are right." Dumbledore agreed, smiling at Ginny. "Such a bright girl." Turning back to Maggie, he expounded, "Empaths are indeed magical creatures, magical humans actually. They feel other's emotions and at times even feed off them…" Dumbledore stopped and let his worlds trail off into the silence that had enveloped the room.

Maggie knew there had to be more to the story, so she prompted him, "If she's magical, how come she doesn't go to a school like Hogwarts?"

"Unfortunately, not everyone embraces their magical talent with the gusto that we would like. And your aunt was frightened by her abilities, so when I sent for her she…"

Maggie's head shot up and she interrupted, "My aunt came to Hogwarts?"

"Came, yes." The Headmaster said with a wink and then added, "Stayed, no. She left quickly and, I suppose, never spoke of her experiences with anyone. Including her beloved niece. But she considered me a friend and we have corresponded through letters ever since."

"Is it hereditary?" Harry asked suddenly. "Can the powers of an Empath be passed down through the generations?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said with a knowing smile. "I believe it can be. In fact, sometimes magic doesn't descend upon Muggles before the usual wizarding age. Some Empaths are never even discovered. I guess 28 is the age for you, Miss Magnolia."

"She's an Empath?" Ginny breathed in surprise, then added brightly, "How cool!"

"That's why you were so nice to me when everyone else at Little Whinging simply thought I was strange!" Harry told her, excited by this new information. "You could sense that there was more going on in my life than met the eye because you could read my emotions..."

"I was nice to you because I liked you, Harry." Maggie reminded him, refusing to believe this new information about herself. "And when you left Little Whinging, I had no idea if you were alive or dead. I didn't..."

"You knew that I was okay!" He persisted, wanting so badly for her to believe. "You knew that someone had come and taken me somewhere safe, don't you remember?"

"I had hoped that someone had come..."

"You knew!" Harry argued, shaking his head defiantly. "That's why you always drove down Privet Drive, because somewhere deep inside you knew that I was alright and you had to see it with your own eyes. But you knew because you are an Empath!"

"This is unbelievable." The young blond muttered, shaking her head in disbelief as Professor McGonagall entered the office and smiled tightly at her.

"Albus," the older woman said urgently, moving further into the room, "we may be running out of time. Deloris Umbridge is wandering about the castle and…"

Realizing that the last time she had heard that name it hadn't been a good reference, Maggie sensed that she had better say what she had come to say and blurted out, "He didn't do it."

"Do what?" Dumbledore asked calmly, apparently unconcerned about time or Deloris Umbridge, as he winked at Sirius.

"He didn't blow up the street in Godric's Hollow. There was another man there….Peter Pettigrew. Small. Round. Rat-like." She paused and shuddered involuntarily as she looked at Sirius, who was watching her closely. "Pettigrew did it. Sirius is innocent."

Maggie could feel the burden begin to settle as Sirius smiled broadly at her and Harry beamed as he breathed a huge sigh of relief, the nerves that had been building up inside him flowing out with the tide. She realized in that moment how much her former student had been depending on her to say the name to cure all ills, to give him back what little family he had left, or that remained out of the Dark Lord's reach.

"Sirius, get the girl a chair. Where are your manners?" Dumbledore burst out suddenly, scolding his former student with both his tone and the look in his eyes. As Sirius moved an overstuffed chair over for Maggie to sink into, the Headmaster looked kindly upon her and asked, "Maggie, could you tell me what happened that day?"

She paused and turned to face him. In the half-light of the lamp she looked like a formidable force, someone who, in full capacity of their abilities, you would never dare to cross. The contrast of her hair with her rapidly paling face made her look increasingly powerful. And with the information she was holding, Harry thought she knew it.

Maggie suddenly sat up defiantly, ready to talk. Harry gazed at her expectantly as she spoke.

"I was walking down the street with my aunt. There was a dog," she glanced over at Sirius and added slyly, "a big, black, soppy beast. He seemed to be watching for something. And then when I turned away the dog wasn't there." She breathed heavily, thinking hard, back past the blaze of blinding light to retrieve the last of her memories. "There was a man instead - tall, dark, pale eyes - and he knew what he was doing. He'd spotted the round-faced man - Pettigrew - on the other side of the street. I saw them having words. Sirius, although I didn't know his name at the time, was angry…so, so angry."

She took a deep breath and avoided Sirius' eyes as she continued, "I can sense his emotions even now, like nothing I'd ever felt before. He felt upset more than anything else. He had his own grief to deal with, and this was his chosen method. He was vengeful." Her voice softened as she finally looked up and met Sirius' troubled gray eyes, which were focused severely on her. As if they were the only two in the room, she said softly, "But he never got his wish. The round man was unusually devious. He pushed Sirius away from him, stumbled into the middle of the crossroads, and started accusing him. Screaming like a mad man. He hadn't even been provoked. He wailed 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you!' but then behind his back, he had this stick, long, black, and polished with white tips. He muttered something in Latin - I didn't understand it. And all I can remember after that is the light. The light, the burning, the…"

Maggie looked down in her lap for a moment, and appeared to be concentrating deeply, her head almost shaking with the effort. Harry could make out her eyelids flickering in the darkened room, as if each had their own stupendous weight to hold. But then she looked up at Kingsley.

"And then a kind voice spoke to me." She smiled softly at the dark auror and said in a stronger voice, "He asked me what I had seen and then he was gone." Shaking her head, Maggie finished, "And that is all I remember."

"Thank you." Dumbledore whispered, studying her thoughtfully.

"Have I helped?" she asked, looking expectantly from Dumbledore to Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Will my memories help to restore Sirius' good name?"

Dumbledore let out a long breath and sat back heavily in his chair as he exchanged a knowing look with both Kingsley and Professor McGonagall before he said tiredly, "I do not believe that you can help Sirius at this time."

"What?" Sirius and Harry exploded at the same time, but were silenced by Dumbledore's knowing look.

"The Ministry is not ready to clear Sirius, especially with evidence coming from myself and Harry. But…"

"I am a witness!" Maggie stated loudly, almost bolting out of her chair until Ginny placed a comforting arm on her shoulder. "When new evidence is presented, the accused is granted a new trial. That is how it is done in civilized society! How can the Ministry dismiss my words without even hearing my side of things? Don't you have laws that protect wizards from…"

"We have them all right," Sirius snarled, "but we are on the brink of war. A war that the Ministry doesn't want to acknowledge. So instead, it's very important for the Ministry to display a number of properly punished villains, you see."

"But you're not a villain!" Maggie protested.

"In the wizarding world," Sirius told her quietly, "I am."

"But we can change that if you just let me talk to someone…"

"You are talking to someone." Kingsley reminded her. "You are talking to Albus Dumbledore and that means quite a lot."

Dumbledore could see her despair and wandered slowly over to her chair as he unexpectedly took her hand and said, "You'll find out your purpose here in due course, fair Magnolia. And then you'll know why you had to be in the middle of it. Magic has its way of coming through to you. I am magic, they are magic. You too are magic in your own way. Enjoy your ignorance - there's going to be a real battle ahead, and you'll need all the energy you have to get through it."

His words were supposed to be comforting, but Maggie felt horrible. She wasn't going to be able to fight in any battles…Sirius had made that fact abundantly clear. Her only chance to help Harry and his godfather had been to testify about Sirius' innocence and now that had been taken from her. Not to mention the fact that she was stuck in the middle of an epic wizarding war in a world that was strange and unfamiliar to her. And Sirius was still stuck, too.

Maggie Thompson wasn't good at being helpless.

And with that, her face fell into her hands as she began rocking back and forth in her chair, causing Sirius to rise with a flash of urgency and slip an arm around the young woman's shoulder, muffling her cries in the material of his cotton shirt. He held her like a child, stroking her hair while rocking with her quietly, soothing the motion from her erratic shakes to the more controlled sways that seemed more calming than dangerous to watch.

"I think we've done enough for tonight," Sirius told the room quietly. The pain in his eyes at the sight of Maggie's suffering spoke far more than any range of words. "I think we've done enough."

"We haven't done anything!" Maggie suddenly exclaimed, not wanting his pity. How could he be the one comforting her when he had just learned that he would have to continue to be a wanted man? "Nothing was accomplished here tonight! I haven't helped at all and I can't go home and you have to remain in hiding and…" The tears welled up in her eyes again as she laid her head against him and whispered hoarsely, "I'm sorry, Sirius. I thought that I could help. I am so sorry…."

Harry felt dizzy in his seat as the reality of what had just happened began to sink in. But his godfather was right. He couldn't find any means to reply, but merely sat and stared at his crest fallen teacher as she rambled on about being helpless and trapped.

"Harry," said Ginny slowly, yet again acting the voice of reason. "I think we should go back to the common room…"

"Not yet." Dumbledore interrupted quietly. "I said that Maggie couldn't help Sirius at this time, but that doesn't mean she won't help ever."

Harry didn't shift his eyes from Maggie, who had ceased her sobs but still clung to Sirius like a scared and timid child. He supposed that after entering the world of magic at this late and dangerous point, that was an accurate definition.

"The world will eventually settle down, but Maggie's testimony alone will not be enough to convince the Ministry's jury." Dumbledore continued, glancing knowingly at Harry. "We have to get the full picture in all its illustrated glory."

Harry gulped as he realized what the Headmaster meant. Dumbledore moved across his office to gather his wand and a small, glass vial as Harry knelt down next to Maggie. She wiped away her tears in embarrassment and blinked at him in confusion as he said urgently, "Miss Thomp-…I mean, Maggie…we need your memory of what happened in Godric's Hollow."

"I just told you…."

"No, I mean we need the actual memory." Harry told her kindly, taking hold of her hand as she sat up and faced him. He half noticed that she still leaned into Sirius for comfort, but said, "Don't be afraid. It won't hurt."

"What won't hurt?" Ginny asked, eyeing the vial that Dumbledore approached with. "What is going on?"

"There is a way to extract Maggie's actual memory from that day…in it's true and exact form." Harry explained.

"But I don't remember everything truly and exactly," Maggie reminded him. "It's a bit of a mess up there in my head which only comes to me in the form of dreams…"

"The pensieve will show everything as it happened, if you allow us to take your memory."

"Pensieve?"

"A Pensieve is a receptacle in which to store memories." Sirius explained as Harry gave him a puzzled look. But he should have known that his godfather couldn't possibly have spent all those years at Hogwarts and not run across the pensieve at least once or twice. "That way the Ministry will not be able to say that you are lying to help your student…or me."

"Do you trust me?" Harry asked as Maggie looked back at him. She nodded and he took her hand as he repeated, "This won't hurt. Don't be frightened."

He nodded up to Dumbledore, who then proceeded to lay the tip of his wand gently along Maggie's temple. He slowly pulled his wand away from Maggie's skin as Ginny looked on in amazement. A stream of silver substance, neither a liquid or a gas, clung to the Headmaster's wand as it strung out from Maggie's head. It finally broke away from both Maggie and the wand and glowed a brilliant silvery color as Dumbledore coiled it into the glass vial in his other hand. Proudly holding up the vial as he capped it off, Dumbledore promised, "I will keep this safe until the day comes when we can show it to the Ministry. Thank you, Maggie."

"That is my memory?" she asked, peering curiously into the glass receptacle.

"We can now see everything that you saw that day…" Dumbledore began, but Sirius cut him off.

"I want Harry to see it."

Harry looked at him oddly and reminded his godfather, "I believe you, Sirius. I always have."

"I know." Sirius answered kindly, but stubbornly added, "But I want you to see it anyway. I want you to know what happened."

Both men turned toward Dumbledore and he nodded as he stepped aside to reveal the cabinet which housed the pensieve. Looking at Ginny and Maggie, he winked and asked, "Are you two going to let the boys have all of the fun?"

"I can view my own memory?" Maggie asked, as Ginny grabbed her hand and dragged her over to join Harry at Dumbledore's desk as Sirius approached with the stone pensieve. Once he had set it down on the desk in front of them, Maggie asked, "What do I do?"

Dumbledore emptied Maggie's newly bottled memory into the stone bowl and watched as Harry and Sirius leaned over the pensieve as if they were going to drink from it. She and Ginny did the same and Maggie felt as if she were being lifted from the floor as she began hurtling through the darkness until she stumbled onto cold, hard pavement. She gasped, her first breath like that of a creature emerging from the dark depths for the first time in its life. It reminded her strongly of her initial gulp of air after she had managed to removed Hagrid's hand from her mouth earlier in the evening.

She felt Harry's arm on her shoulder to steady her, but the familiarity of the environment made her shudder. The quartet were in Godric's Hollow and a young, blond girl had just stepped over them as if they didn't even exist while she trailed behind an older, fussy woman.

"Is that you?" Ginny breathed, transfixed by the carefree, miniature version of Maggie as she wandered down the street with such wonder and excitement in her expressive face. "You were so adorable."

"As was I." Sirius added, pointing to a big, black dog weaving in and out of the crowd.

Harry, Ginny, Maggie, and Sirius watched as the dog let out an evil snarl and began to growl while an expression of anger and outrage seemed to cross the animal's face. In the next moment he was gone and there in the exact place the dog had stood, was Sirius. He turned on the spot, grasping something tightly in the pocket of his jacket as he appeared to swallow a lump in his throat. His brow was furrowed in some form of deep concentration, gearing himself up for whatever task lay ahead within the crowd. Then he walked away. And young Maggie followed him.

"You weren't even frightened," Harry breathed in amazement as he watched his twelve year old teacher follow the man until she stopped at the edge of the road.

The next few seconds seemed to last an eternity as Sirius crossed the street with those darkening, soulful eyes that were now focused on his target. Peter Pettigrew was standing with his back against the corner of a nearby building as if he were a couple of stories up and about to take a flying leap. The two old friends argued and the exchange was taking place through gritted teeth while Sirius shook with visible anger, edging on uncontrollable hysteria as his large, strong shoulders shook with the effort of self-control. The quartet caught little of their conversation - words like traitor, broken, lies and death - but not one of the four was unsure of the details….Peter Pettigrew was about to face the consequences.

Suddenly the situation changed and Sirius let out a howl of rage as he shoved his companion up against the wall, easily daunting his wimp-like figure. Surprisingly, Peter had a sudden surge of energy, pushing himself free of the Sirius' vice-like grip and edging back into the middle of the street. The group from Hogwarts stared at the Sirius in Maggie's memory as he was left standing on the sidewalk and he visibly paled as a shrill voice cut through the mild autumn air…

"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you!"

The next pictures, the final ones to be processed in Maggie's mind, were slowed and dazed and seemed more likely that her imagination was playing tricks on her. Just as Sirius pulled out his wand and held it in front of him like he was brandishing a sword in battle, they glanced at his threatening enemy, who was holding his own weapon behind his back and pointing toward the street a few feet away. He muttered something in Latin and then the world exploded.

It was like staring at the center of the sun. The blazing glow at first was completely dazzling, as they watched young Maggie get knocked backward off her feet by the blast, the wind rustling her hair as the fall out passed over her body. Harry, Ginny, Sirius, and Maggie were so busy watching young Maggie hit the pavement with an overwhelming thud that they almost missed Pettigrew transforming back into his animagus form and disappearing into the pavement…leaving behind only his severed finger.

But even the bloody finger on the pavement didn't distract them from the scene that was unveiling before their eyes. Chaos. It seemed for a moment that the group had disapparated into the middle of a war zone. There was glass everywhere in the street in front of them and people were running about in every direction imaginable. It looked like the end of the world. Injured people here and there were having various cuts and bruises tended to by Muggle paramedics. The more serious were being lifted onto stretchers and carted off to a collection of ambulances who now and then let off a squeal of a siren as they dashed off into the busy London streets. And a sickening but unfortunately significant number lay covered with blood splattered sheets.

"Get back, please, get back!"

All four heads turned as they heard a voice suddenly approach, somewhat shaky and lacking in authority, but one that caught Harry's attention and brought him back to reality with a very sharp thud.

It was Cornelius Fudge, but not as anyone had ever seen him. This man was at least a decade younger, his eyes wide and panicky at the scene all around him, looking incredibly uncomfortable in his tweed Muggle suit. He didn't even cast the quartet a second glance.

The crater in the middle of the quad was smoking still, cracks in the pavement reaching out from its epicenter like cruel, creeping fingers as they stretched out towards the survivors on its edges. And judging by the occasional piles of rags and covered heaps in the road, the survivors seemed to number few.

Fudge began advising the memory charm squad of people to watch as they attempted to put their wands out of sight, considering the sheer volume of Muggles they were having to deal with. There was also the small matter of the gibbering wreck of a wizard backed up against the wall from the other side of the square, still laughing at the scene around him. But it wasn't a laugh of amusement...anyone with half a brain could see that. Sirius, noticeable due to his choice of wizard attire, had his dark eyes open wide, hair a little swept back from the blast, but was visibly shaking with a mixture of fear and hysteria. He was a man on the verge of madness. A man who was all too aware of the fate that lay ahead of him. A man that, only a day before, had lost everything dear to him in the world through the actions of one little rat.

"Sirius…" Harry and Maggie whispered simultaneously, but the real Sirius was too busy watching the series of events unfold in front of him to seal the fate of the Sirius in Maggie's memory. Heavily armed wizards dressed as Muggle CID officers handcuffed him without a struggle. The satisfied looks upon their faces were enough to make Maggie feel like emptying her stomach. Sirius looked around the quad desperately, knowing that his tale was hardly going to be believed, before being pushed headfirst into a ministry car and speeding away from the scene, his strangled cry echoing around the tragic scene. His twelve-year booking at the hotel a la Azkaban had just been confirmed.

"I never saw that before." Maggie breathed, watching Sirius closely. "How can that be in my memory if I never saw it?"

"It is the magic of the Pensieve." Harry whispered, also watching Sirius carefully. "It makes things clearer…"

His voice trailed off and she swallowed the feeling to vomit again as Sirius suddenly wandered out among the debris. Harry and Ginny and Maggie followed instinctively before they were suddenly pulled back through the darkness. Blinking quickly, Maggie realized that they were back in Dumbledore's office.

Sirius stepped away from the pensieve and collapsed into the chair that Maggie had been occupying earlier. All eyes were on Sirius, but he seemed to be in a world of his own as an eery silence fell over the room and finally it was Harry who had to address them first.

"Maggie saw everything, Professor. Even more than she remembered in her dream," he said finally, as Maggie slowly moved over to Sirius' side and knelt down. He didn't seem to sense her presence, or even batter an eyelid at first. He was so passive. But suddenly he grabbed her hand in his and held it tightly as Harry continued, "This memory will free Sirius. Not just for me, but for everyone in the wizarding world that he will fight to protect. We'll take down the Death Eaters one by one if we have to, if it will clear the path to Voldemort. I won't let my parents die in vain."

"Neither will we, Harry." Ginny reaffirmed quietly, as she stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

"We will find a way to let Maggie's memory be known, Harry," Dumbledore assured his young student. "I promise. Because now we have the one thing that the ministry didn't count on."

Sirius actually smiled as he gripped Maggie's hand tighter and whispered loudly, "Yes, we have the Muggle effect on our side now."


	16. Jealousy

**Thanks again for all of the reviews and positive feedback! I think we are finally getting to the meat of the lovestory with this chapter. Please don't misinterpret the stuff between Maggie and Remus...it is purely innocent. Maggie and Sirius are definitely the story here! We have jumped ahead in the time line for this chapter and all that has happened in between is that Remus, Maggie, and Tonks have become close friends from hanging out at Grimmauld Place and Sirius is back to moping about after what happened when Maggie met Dumbledore. I think that is all the backstory that we need for this to make sense. ****I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope you enjoy it!**

**rdg2000** - Thanks for the positive reviews. If it sounded like I was the teacher in the early chapters, that is because I am! Or I was before I stayed home to raise my kids! The fact that you could see that coming out in my writing is high praise indeed. Thanks so much for that and for all of your kind words.

**Cowabunga** - Thanks for the constructive criticism. I hate to say it...but because Sirius and Maggie have become the focus of this fic, Harry's story and emotions sometimes get a little shortchanged. I completely missed the emotions I could have included about Harry returning to Godric's Hollow...since I have already ready DH, sometimes I forget that in this story Harry hasn't done everything yet! Thanks for being patient with me!

**Arabella Lee Smith** - Thanks for being such a loyal reader! I love the name Arabella! We almost named our daughter Arabella, but it didn't sound so great with our last name!

**hpnut1, Iaveina, Aria DeLoncray, King of Wolves, and all the rest** - Thanks for being such loyal readers and reviewers! Your reviews and your excitement about this story make me light up! Thanks for all of the encouragement!

* * *

**Chapter 16 - Jealousy**

_Sometime in mid-October, the evening after the next full moon…_

"You look like hell."

Remus Lupin grinned broadly at his new, young friend as he lumbered into the kitchen of Twelve Grimmauld Place and sat down at the long, wooden table.

"Why thank you, Miss Thompson. You are so good for my ego." Smiling tiredly at her, he watched for a moment as she poured him a mug of ale and set it down in front of him. "You on the other hand, look positively gorgeous."

"I wasn't fishing for compliments, you sly dog." Maggie retorted cheerily, standing back to study him as he sipped at his ale. Narrowing her eyes at his ragged appearance, she added thoughtfully, "You just…you look…" Remus glanced up at her as she fumbled for her words and finally just asked, "Where have you been for the last couple of days and what have you been doing that causes you to come back here looking like that?"

"Like what?" Remus asked innocently, eyeing her as he took another sip of his ale.

"Like death warmed over."

Remus sputtered his ale across the table as he cackled with laughter at her description of his appearance and said heartily, "I do like your straight forward attitude, Maggie." Holding up his hand in mock protest, he added playfully, "Please, don't be kind on my account."

Maggie looked appalled at her own behavior and stammered, "I didn't mean to…"

"I know." Lupin told her softly as he leaned on the worn, wooden table with a weary sigh.

The kitchen was quiet for a moment until Maggie finally asked, "So, you're not going to tell me?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I did."

"Try me." Maggie challenged, her eyes flashing with mischief and curiosity.

Remus looked up at her thoughtfully and opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly closed it again and shook his head. Quietly, he said, "It's a long story. One for another night…when I'm not quite so tired."

Maggie pursed her lips in disappointment, but could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't going to tell her anymore than he had. So instead she said, "I roasted a chicken and whipped up some mashed potatoes earlier. Sirius did a pretty good job of inhaling the entire bird, but I did manage to save some for you…in hopes that you were coming back to us this evening."

Remus looked up, grateful for the food and for the change of subject, and said, "Thank you, Maggie. Roast chicken and mashed potatoes would be lovely right now."

"Coming right up."

As she piled a plate high with chicken, mashed potatoes, and roasted vegetables, Maggie glanced over her shoulder at him and asked, "Do you know what you need, Mr. Lupin? You need a nice girl to look after you."

"I'm waiting for you to offer," Remus answered soulfully, fluttering his eye lashes playfully at her.

Maggie chuckled and set the plate down in front of him and scolded, "Get away with you. You're going to make me blush."

She walked toward the pantry and came back with another pitcher of ale as she noticed a look of quiet introspection on his formerly handsome face.

"Miles away, weren't you?" the blond teacher observed, laying his cutlery and a napkin down beside his plate. "I saved an extra Yorkshire pudding for you, too." She smiled tenderly. "You need feeding up, my friend."

"You're a life saver, Maggie my love." Lupin said, sniffing the enticing aroma of his meal with real pleasure.

"And you're a born charmer, Remus Lupin." she snorted as she sat down across from him with her own goblet of wine.

Lupin tucked in, enjoying the sheer pleasure of Maggie's cooking and her company. But a frown knit his forehead and his knife and fork stilled as he thought on his most recent past. He didn't need much from life, which was just as well. But he couldn't deny it was a relief to have such a secure place to lay his head for a while.

"One day at a time, Remus," Maggie said softly as he shook his head and tucked back into his meal. It was good advice. And he'd never needed it more than over the last few months.

"That's my motto." Lupin agreed, smiling at her as he chewed on his delicious dinner.

"And do you live by it?"

"Mostly," he told her. "But sometimes a few days come at me all at once."

"So you disappear for awhile?" Maggie asked knowingly, watching him closely. "To be alone?"

"I told you that I wasn't going to tell you where I have been." Lupin stated firmly, scooping some potatoes up onto his fork and avoiding her stare. "But I do admire your tenacity."

"I am a teacher, Professor Lupin," Maggie reminded him needlessly. "I don't accept partial answers…"

"But I am not your student, Miss Thompson," Remus shot back and then stole a quick glance at her as he added wistfully, "Though I am sure that life might have been easier if I had been. It seems to have done wonders for Harry."

"Harry would have been okay with or without me." Maggie admonished, taking a sip of her wine. "Once he got away from the Dursley's, he was surrounded by so many people who care for him."

"But you made a difficult time in his life a little easier and a bit brighter," the gentle man said simply, "And you can never underestimate the power of that."

"Which is why you hold Sirius, James, and Lily so close to your heart?"

Remus' fork paused in mid-air as he looked at her in surprise and asked, "How do you know such things?"

"Haven't you heard the news?" Maggie teased, stealing a green bean from his plate. "I'm an Empath. I sense all of the things in your heart that you try to hide from me."

Lupin pursed his lips as he studied her once more and then the corner of his mustache twitched as he shot back, "I think I liked you better when you were simply a Muggle."

Maggie chuckled along with him and agreed, "You know what…so did I!"

She watched him continue to eat his dinner, before she smiled impishly and asked, "So if we can't talk about _**where**_ you were, can we at least talk about who you might have been with?"

"Meaning?" he asked slyly.

"You know exactly what I mean!" She winked at him and added, "And I also think you know exactly who I am talking about."

"Who?" Remus asked innocently, his smile relaxing his entire face. "Molly? I'm sorry to inform you, Maggie, but Molly is a happily married woman…"

"Not Molly," Maggie interrupted impatiently, playfully slapping his arm. "I'm talking about Tonks. I noticed you two had gotten a little friendly."

"Because she is my friend." Remus informed her simply, going back to his masked potatoes.

The faintest smile flickered across Maggie's face and she looked at Remus expectantly as she said, "She's my friend, too. But I don't stare wistfully at her across a crowded room."

"I do not stare wistfully!"

"Want a mirror, my friend?" Maggie shot back with a grin. "You are worse than a lovesick puppy."

"Magnolia Lee Thompson, I am an adult. And a professional," Lupin explained in a very teacher-y tone. "I do not stare wistfully at a colleague or behave like a dog. That is Sirius' department."

"Remus loves Tonks, Remus loves Tonks…" Maggie teased quietly in a sing-song voice before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"This is not your most attractive side, Miss Magnolia." Remus scoffed, but she could see the blush creeping onto his cheeks.

"Does she care for you, as well?" Maggie asked, ignoring his remarks.

Remus shook his head at her and for a moment Maggie thought he was going to get up and leave the kitchen, but instead he said quietly, "I think so. When we were at the train station the other day, I got the intense feeling that she wanted me to kiss her."

Maggie's eyes widened as he quickly added, "But I didn't. And she seemed a little disappointed. I wanted to, but...I just couldn't. Does that make sense?"

"No," Maggie told him as if she were talking to a two year old child. "When you find someone as amazing as Tonks and you find out that she cares about you and she wants you to kiss her, then you kiss her!" She shook her head at him and muttered, "Idiot."

Remus chuckled at her again and quipped, "I'm sure you were a fabulous teacher, Maggie. You have such a wonderful way with words."

"What are you afraid of?" Maggie asked suddenly. When he glanced up at her, she quickly said, "Even before I knew I was an Empath, I considered myself an expert on human nature. And you, Remus Lupin, are exhibiting the classic signs of a man scared out of his wits."

"I'm not…"

"Don't bother denying it…I _am_ an Empath, remember." Maggie observed, squinting her eyes and watching him closely. "If you're afraid of not having enough money or no steady job, then stop worrying about all of that. Women say that those are important things, but in my experience the men with the biggest bank accounts and best jobs can't hold a candle to you, Remus Lupin. And Tonks seems like a girl who can take care of herself. She's not some little girl that needs to be kept."

"I know she's not."

"You say that, but…I'm not so sure."

"It is complicated, Maggie." Remus protested, looking past her and into the fire. "There are things about me that you don't yet know. Things that stand between me and Tonks."

"What things?" Reaching out across the table to take his hand in hers, she prodded gently, "Tell me, Remus. You can trust me."

He was quiet for a long time as he looked deep into her eyes. But it wasn't the look of a lover, it was the look of a very lonely soul searching for a friend. And Maggie was determined to be that friend to him. She had liked Remus Lupin from the moment they had met and she couldn't imagine anything about him could change that. Finally, Remus said quietly, "I'm a werewolf."

At first, Maggie just stared at him, certain she had heard wrong. She narrowed her eyes and very quietly asked, "What?"

It pained him to say it again, but he repeated, "I am a werewolf."

Maggie pulled her hands from his and stared off into the darkness surrounding them. She tried to make sense out of what she had just heard, but she couldn't. Her mind was spinning. Was he joking with her? _No,_ she thought. _Why would anyone joke about something like that?_

Maggie froze as her breath caught in her throat. She didn't know what to do, what to say.

Remus closed his eyes in embarrassment and nodded again sadly. He dared to look at her face again and was surprised at what he saw; it wasn't fear, or hatred, or disgust, or even pity. It was concern. Remus's heart lightened; she was still there, talking to him. He had expected her to run away, or scream in terror.

"So when you go away each month, you have been transforming into a werewolf?"

Her words weren't spoken with the accusatory tone that Remus was so used to hearing from people. Rather, they were said with - was it too much to hope for? - concern. Slowly, he nodded his head.

"Remus, why didn't you tell me?" Maggie asked.

He looked up her and smirked, "Why? Because, I'm a monster, Miss Magnolia. You do know what a werewolf is capable of, do you not?"

Tears began to spring up in Maggie's eyes and she blinked several times, praying they wouldn't fall. She could feel his heart being pulled apart in his chest.

"You're not a monster," she finally said.

Remus laughed cruelly and scoffed, "Come on, Maggie. You are a teacher. Haven't you read any available material on werewolves? Just about every book on the subject classifies me as a monster."

The tears finally escaped her eyes and spilled over onto her cheeks as she said, "I have never met a finer man than you, Remus Lupin. I don't care what the books say you are…not every truth in life can be found in a book."

Remus shook his head, hoping to push those thoughts far away, but it didn't help. He sighed, turning away from her again. "I'm so wrong for Tonks in so many ways."

"Who says?" Maggie challenged him. "You or the rest of the world?"

""The wolf is something I'm going to have to deal with for the rest of my life, and it's not something to take lightly." He shook his head slightly as he finished with, "I just can't see her willingly accepting that."

"Have you asked her what she thinks?"

"You make it sound so simple…"

"Sometimes the best things in life really are simple." Maggie interrupted quietly, taking his hands once again in hers. "We are the ones that complicate them, adding our own fears and doubts. So forget about the rest of the world. What do you _want_?"

He studied her determined face once more and finally shook his head as he said, "What I want is to stop talking about this and finish my supper."

Maggie let go of his hands again and he picked up his fork to finish eating. She watched him for a moment before she muttered, "Men. What is it about emotions that scares you all so?"

Remus suddenly let a sly smile cross his face as he chewed on a forkful of green beans. Once he had swallowed, he asked, "Are we still talking about me?"

"Who else would we be talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know," Remus said playfully, his eyes suddenly full of mischief, "Maybe the other man in your life these days? The dark, shaggy one with the uneven temper?"

Knowing precisely who he was speaking of, Maggie frowned and grumped, "Sirius Black is the most annoying, unfathomable, ignoramus of a git you will ever meet. He's conceited, proud and quite roguish."

"That's an accurate description." Lupin told her, finishing off the last bit of his potatoes. "And I'm sure that half the population of our Hogwarts class would agree with you. But, it does not answer my question."

"He's been an absolute pain in the ass for the last few weeks." Maggie muttered, slumping her shoulders. "He's angry about the way things turned out at Hogwarts and he won't admit that he let himself get his hopes up about me clearing his name. But instead of talking with me about it, he just mopes around the house and barks orders at Kreacher and avoids me like the plague."

"Sounds about right." Remus agreed, wiping the corners of his mouth with his napkin. "But he'll get over it."

"How?"

His eyes twinkled as he looked at her and teased, "You are a resourceful girl, Miss Maggie. I'm sure you'll think of a way to get him focused on other things."

It was Maggie's turn to blush and she abruptly changed the subject by picking up one of his hands and examining a long, jagged cut on his palm. She traced the new wound with her soft fingers and then looked up at him as she asked, "Is that from…who did that to you?"

"A coyote who was not smart enough to stay out of my path." Remus replied simply, watching her closely for a reaction. If he was trying to shock her, she didn't take the bait.

"Well, I am not a trained nurse," the young teacher told him, holding her voice steady, "but I do have a technique that my mother used on me every time I had some bumps and bruises."

"Really?"

"Shall I see if it works on you?"

"It can't make things any worse." Remus agreed, watching her with curious eyes.

Concentrating on the hand in question, Maggie gripped it tenderly in hers and raised it up to her lips. Grinning at him, she brought her lips down to his calloused skin and softly kissed his injury.

"Better?" she asked, smiling at him playfully.

"Much." Remus smiled and Maggie swore she saw him blink back some fresh tears. She could not believe that there were people in this world cruel enough to be afraid of Remus Lupin.

"Butterfly kisses, is what my mother called them." Maggie whispered, trying to soothe the ache she could sense in his heart. "I think real butterfly kisses have to do with eyelashes or some such nonsense, but I like my mama's version better. They are the perfect way to mend a wounded hand…and a wounded heart."

"Your mama sounds like a lovely woman." Remus told her softly as Maggie bent down to kiss his palm again. "I am not so sure that she would…"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Remus quickly pulled his hand away as Sirius' voice boomed though the kitchen in an unmistakenly angry tone. He did not miss the searing look his friend was shooting in his direction.

"No," Maggie said, looking up her host with a smile. "Remus and I were just talking about wounded hands and hearts."

"How sweet." Sirius retorted in an icy tone, never taking his eyes off of Remus. Turning to Maggie, he asked curtly, "Is there any Yorkshire pudding left?"

"Yes, but I was saving it for Remus…"

"Of course you were." Sirius bit back, still glaring at his best friend.

Maggie, oblivious to the entire scene, looked up and asked, "Well, I think that there might be some mincemeat pie left over from last night if you would like…"

"No, I would not like any pie." He interrupted sharply. "I wouldn't want to deprive dear Remus of any scraps of food, seeing that he is so wounded."

Sensing that his old friend was staking his claim on the beautiful Miss Thompson, Remus couldn't believe what he was witnessing and bit his lip to keep from laughing at the jealousy simmering just below Sirius' not-so-well-controlled exterior. Abruptly standing up, the werewolf said, "Actually, I am quite full. And nothing feels better after a good meal than a long nap." Looking down at Maggie tenderly, he said quietly, "Thank you for a wonderful dinner and an equally wonderful chat. It was the perfect way to end an evening." He walked toward the kitchen steps and then called back as an afterthought, "Good night, Sirius."

Sirius practically snarled as he bid his friend good night and then spun on his heel as he mimicked, "_It was the perfect way to end an evening_." Turning to Maggie, he suddenly asked, "You do realize that he's a werewolf, don't you?

Staring at him with wide eyes, Maggie replied coldly, "Yes, he's just informed me. But _**that**_ is how you choose to reveal his secret to me? In some backhanded, school boy fit of…what the hell was that exactly, Sirius? Jealousy?"

Sirius snorted as he grabbed up Remus' untouched ale and downed it with one gulp. Wiping the froth from his upper lip, he snarled, "Jealous? Of Remus Lupin? I should hope not!"

"Why not?" Maggie shot back, wondering why he was taking such unkind stabs at his best friend since childhood. "Remus is kind and intelligent and beneath the scars, he is quite handsome. He has much to offer a woman."

"And I suppose you are eager to find out just what he has to offer?"

She didn't care for his sneering tone, so Maggie crossed her arms over her chest and replied hotly, "Maybe I would…if I weren't afraid that Tonks would kick my ass."

Whatever he was expecting her to say, it obviously wasn't that. He stopped pouring more ale into his mug and asked in surprise, "Tonks? Nymphadora Tonks?"

"Yes, Mr. Oblivious!" Maggie cried, throwing her hands up in disgust. "Remus is in love with Tonks. And I'm pretty sure that she is in love with him, as well. Considering that he is your best friend and she is your cousin, this shouldn't really come as a shock to you, should it?"

"Remus and Tonks?" Sirius repeated as he bit back a grin. It took a moment for the news to truly set in as he shook his head and asked again, "Remus Lupin is in love with Nymphadora Tonks?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am sure." Maggie snapped, wondering at his suddenly light mood. "His feelings for her can not be hidden from me." She shook her head and muttered, "Some best friend you are."

Sirius at least had the courtesy to look ashamed of himself as he said quietly, "I have been a little preoccupied lately."

"Wallowing in your own self pity does not count as preoccupied." Maggie snapped.

He threw his head back and laughed at her before he said, "You have a real smart mouth on you, don't you Magnolia?" His tone suddenly changed as he accused, "Maybe all of this hostility toward me is just a way to hide that fact that you are secretly lusting after another woman's man."

"Excuse me?"

"If Remus is in love with Tonks, who I thought was your friend…"

"She is my friend." Maggie spat out, not liking where this conversation was headed.

Sirius scowled at her then and retorted, "Then you probably shouldn't spend your evenings kissing her boyfriend."

Maggie's eyebrows lifted as her jaw simultaneously fell at his accusation and she answered incredulously, "Kissing her boyfriend? Are you insane? I was teasing him. He knew that. If Tonks were here, she would know that too. The only one who doesn't seem to know that is you!" Narrowing her eyes at him, she added angrily, "For someone who is rumored to be so great with the ladies, you are certainly as dumb as a rock when it comes to matters of the heart."

Sirius ignored her jab and said instead, "Then maybe you are the one who is jealous…"

"Of what?" Maggie practically roared, so angry that she could barely see straight.

"Of Remus' feelings for Tonks." Sirius answered coolly, while avoiding her gaze.

"Why would I be jealous?" she asked, moving around the table to confront him. "I'm thrilled that they care for each other. It makes the world a more tolerable place when two good people find each other amidst all the evil that surrounds us."

"But he is not looking at you the way that he looks at Tonks." Sirius reminded her, moving forward so that they were practically toe to toe as he breathed, "And that must make you so very jealous."

"I don't want him to look at me that way." Maggie hissed, ignoring the warming sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"Well, who do you want to look at you that way?"

Maggie froze at this statement, and she could feel his eyes boring into her, defeating that sensual boundary that had been created around them.

"Since when is it any of your business anyway?" Maggie demanded of him and looking up angrily. "I'm a grown up, Sirius, remember? And you're not my father or my brother or my boyfriend, so why should you care who I want to look at me?"

"Well, I do." He told her, stepping forward and trapping her between his long body and the kitchen table. "I care more than you know."

Before Maggie could respond, his mouth came crashing down onto hers with unexpected force. She brought her hands up to his shoulders, intending to push his sudden intrusion away before things went too far...but somehow her arms never got the message that her brain was sending. Instead she grasped his shoulders and pulled him closer, reveling in the masculine smell and taste of Sirius Black. Through their kiss, he smiled and the pull of his lips began teasing hers. So he deepened the kiss, tentatively bringing his tongue to her bottom lip and running it over the sensitive area where the lip met her sweet skin. An unexpected thrill shot through Maggie's body and she felt herself go limp in his embrace. Drowning in the sweetness of him and his kiss, Maggie realized that it had been a long time since she had been kissed so thoroughly.

But then, just as suddenly as it had happened...the kiss was over.

Breathing heavily, Sirius jerked away from their kiss and her embrace and they simply stared at each other for a moment. The fact that he kissed her did not surprise her, nor did the fact that his lips were soft and warm. Or that they sparked against hers from even the slightest movement. No, what shocked Maggie was the way her lips opened softly and had invited the kiss to go deeper. She barely knew this man, yet she felt she would die if he stopped making love to her lips.

A smile of satisfaction played on Sirius' lips as he stared at his Magnolia. Her bright blue eyes reflected a desire he had hoped to create, her cheeks had turned rosy, and her full red lips were still parted in response to his kiss.

"See," he drawled in a low sexy voice, "I do care. And apparently, so do you."

And with that, he headed up the kitchen steps...leaving Maggie standing alone in the kitchen wondering what the hell had just happened.


	17. Interesting

**Chapter Seventeen - Interesting**

_Hours later..._

Maggie's elegant fingers flipped through endless pages of A History of Magic, the muted black print on the grimy sheaves fading into the backdrop of the parchment.

It was only an act.

She was avoiding it. They were both avoiding it. She wouldn't think about it. She _couldn't_ think about it. Not now.

_Ding. Dong._

The great grandfather clock in the foyer of The House of Black echoed up the vast staircase, vibrating off the walls of her bedroom on the third floor. Maggie looked up in surprise, listened, and counted.

_Five._

Five o'clock.

Five o'clock in the _morning._

Maggie shut the book with a loud thump. The friendless pages puffed little circles of dust in protest as the young teacher eyed the massive tome on her bed with deep disdain. She had been blindly reading it for at least three hours, but the book had only been about preoccupying her mind anyway. Because nothing she did, nothing she thought, nothing in her immediate power would release the memory of _him _– how she trembled when he touched her, how she gasped when their lips met, how her stomach dropped when his tongue ran hesitantly, softly across hers.

Clasping her eyes shut, Maggie took a long, hard breath and attempted to regain control over her nerves. They tingled and electrified with every prolonged thought. She was starting to feel ill. Yet tirelessly, she once again tried wrapping her head around what had happened, what it _meant._

Denying how much was behind their sudden, passionate kiss was stupid and pointless. She wasn't surprised that it had happened. Somewhere, deep inside, she had wanted it to happen. Because from the moment they had met, Maggie had found Sirius Black sexy. Yes, sexy. Dangerously, intriguingly, roguishly, and undeniably sexy.

And when he had kissed her…

Maggie shivered involuntarily as she thought once again on the kiss that had rocked her to the very core, but immediately shook those lingering thoughts out of her mind. Because she couldn't go on like this, not knowing what to do, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to _think._

It was only a kiss, for Pete's sake.

What felt like only five minutes later, the grandfather clock struck another long, low chord. Again, she counted.

_Six._

Her body was unnaturally stiff as she stood wearily outside the drawing room door. The floorboards beneath her feet creaked despite the fact she wasn't moving.

_Knock. Just knock._

She didn't.

Her brilliant blue eyes only scorched the surface of the wooden door. She felt cold and numb, though her mind kept racing, almost outrunning her heart. Shadows from the corridor crawled the length of the planks, finally bumping silently into her body as the sun rose completely in the early autumn morning.

Without letting herself think any more, Maggie swallowed hard and rasped her knuckles against the only physical barrier left between her and Sirius.

Immediately, she heard footfalls approaching. Her heart caught up to her mind, then passed it. She was suddenly devoid of coherent thought, yet she simultaneously became keenly aware of her hands. She knew they were growing damp. Ignoring all this, and ignoring the hole in her inner stomach, she lifted her head and consciously reminded herself to breathe steadily.

The door swung open, revealing Sirius' chiseled features and dark eyes. His expression was hard as she peered up at him, restless surprise evident in the way his gaze swept across Maggie's body but completely escaped her stare.

Neither said a word, and the air between them swelled. It grew thick with heat and uncertainty the longer they stood together silently. Their only friend was the impeding darkness, its shady blanket masking some of the truth in their eyes.

Finally, Maggie gave a light clearing of her throat and licked her lips anxiously as she asked quietly, "Can I come in?"

Her voice sounded rough to her own ears, as if the act of speaking was coarse on her vocal cords after an entire night of silence.

"Oh, of course," Sirius muttered quickly, moving out of the way. Maggie's face was burning and her arms tingled with unidentifiable fervor as she slowly made her way to the edge of the sofa. She eyed it for a moment, hands tucked safely in her pockets, before breathing deeply and opting to lean against the wall instead.

"I was catching up on a bit of Order business," offered Sirius in an uncharacteristically meek voice, nodding toward the many parchments that were scattered about the sofa. Taking a couple steps forward, he allowed the door to swing shut as his arms folded protectively across his chest.

"Sorry to interrupt," mumbled Maggie, moving over toward the fireplace and turning to gaze into it.

"You don't have to apologize." he replied, moving over to the sofa to hastily clear off the old, worn velvet seat. "I was just thinking that a break would be nice."

Silence ensued. Maggie didn't feel ready for this. _Whatever __**this**__ was._

After an extended moment, Sirius finally asked, "Have you found anything helpful in those books that Harry sent you?"

Maggie shook her head and focused on the dwindling embers of the fire as she answered, "No." Smiling slightly, she finally turned back to face him and added, "And I believe that it was Hermione who sent the books…Harry simply mailed the package."

Sirius, nodding calmly, allowed a faint smile and Maggie could have sworn his brooding eyes lightened just slightly as he said, "I expect that you are right."

Continuing with the small talk, Maggie glanced around the room and remarked, "This room looks almost inhabitable. Molly and the children worked very hard in here."

"It almost feels like home." he confided, running an exhausted hand through his hair. Shifting, he took several steps before dissolving into the sofa, his head lying back on the crease of the armrest. "This used to be a grand room…the center of our home. The members of the Most Noble House of Black would all gather in here and discuss the in's and out's of Dark Magic."

Maggie moved to sit beside him, a strange flurry of activity grasping her airway, causing her throat to run dry as she replied, "Sounds like a lot of fun."

Sirius was gazing off into the faded tapestry detailing the Black family tree that was hanging across the room as he breathed, "Yeah."

A different kind of tension descended on them now, a dark and unforgiving presence that reminded them of solemn responsibilities and battles yet to be fought. Everything else, everything between them, melted away for that brief moment. Life once again revolved around Harry and The Dark Lord. As Maggie stared transfixed at the tapestry, she distantly registered that for the first time ever, it was a welcome burden. It was, for better or worse, familiar territory – something she could not say for her confused feelings towards the man sitting next to her on the sofa.

After another long silence, Maggie finally addressed the monster in the room and asked quietly, "Are we going to talk about this?"

"Talk about what?" Sirius asked with a smirk, the playful look in his eye suddenly appearing. He had simply been waiting for her to break the ice.

Which irritated Maggie in ways that she couldn't explain.

"You kissed me!" she told him incredulously, sitting upright on the sofa and turning to face him.

"And, if I remember correctly, you kissed me back." he reminded her pointedly.

"But you started it."

"You have been teaching small children for too long." Sirius said with a chuckle, raising his eyebrow at her. "You are starting to talk like them."

"Can we please talk about this?"

"Why?"

"Because it's a big deal." Maggie was beginning to get frustrated with his nonchalant teasing. And it came through in her tone as she accused again, "You kissed me."

"And you kissed me back." he repeated, then smirked and asked, "Didn't we already go through this?"

"Sirius..."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Maggie asked, confused both by his sudden playful demeanor and his question.

"Why do we have to talk about it?" Sirius explained, shaking his head at her. "That is one thing I have always found confounding about women…why do you always need to talk about things? Can't you simply let them play out?"

"I don't know." she answered honestly, shrugging at him before she asked, "But, don't you find it strange that it just..._happened_?"

"No." Sirius answered just as honestly. "It happens all the time."

"Not to me."

He chuckled as it was his turn to look at her incredulously and ask, "Men don't kiss you all the time? Then you have been hanging out with the wrong kind of men."

"Sirius…"

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," he interrupted, getting up to walk over to the fire. The drawing room had been hushed and vacant when it was just him and his thoughts. The sofa was just another piece of furniture. But when Maggie sat back upon it, shaking her hair, burnished and glorious, over the back pillows, it seemed like the concentrated centre of the universe. And he was suddenly having trouble concentrating.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Maggie demanded, pulling him back from his thoughts.

"It means that you are a beautiful woman, Magnolia Lee Thompson," Sirius explained, still not looking at her. "And I am a lonely man. And we have been trapped together in this house for weeks. It was inevitable."

"So you only kissed me because you thought it was inevitable?" Maggie asked, as it was her turn to raise her eyebrow at him. Only he couldn't see it because he was still staring into the blasted fire.

He finally turned back around and informed her haughtily, "No, I kissed you because you looked like you needed to be kissed."

"And what does someone who needs to be kissed look like?"

Sirius glanced at her, eyes blazing as she glared at him angrily, with her hands on her hips and her mouth set in defiance. He chuckled and said, "Not like that, that's for sure."

His playful comment did nothing to ease her mood as she hissed, "God, you are infuriating!"

"Thank you."

If there was ever a moment for a woman to storm out on a man, Maggie Thompson knew that this was her moment. She had been awake all night worrying about how this conversation would go and now he was making jokes. She wasn't going to stand for it and made her point clear as she unfolded her legs from underneath her and stormed to the door.

"Maggie, wait…"

Maggie froze at the sound of Sirius' voice and slowly turned back around to face him.

"I have a confession to make," he said taking a few steps toward her, "I have been thinking about us, together...alone, like we were in the kitchen last night, for about a month now. Or maybe since you arrived, I don't know. Just listen," he continued, holding his hands up when she opened her mouth to protest, "When I saw you kissing Remus' hand…innocent or not…something snapped in me. There you were, looking so beautiful and smiling up at him and I just…I don't know, I guess I wanted to be him for a moment."

Sirius chuckled at his own joke and informed her, "I have never once in my life wanted to be a werewolf, so that was a new one for me. And then when we were alone together, I couldn't seem to say anything right and you were still looking so beautiful and I just…I didn't think. I just acted and…well, you know what happened next." Shaking his head in disgust at himself, he muttered, "I have never been very good at this part. The kissing part, I can do that. But I'm not good at everything else that comes with it."

"Like what?"

Sirius' head snapped up at her sudden question. He bit at his lower lip, not taking his eyes from Maggie's. He squinted, staring intently at her, as if her eyes somehow held the answers to…everything. He held her gaze and he felt something – something spark inside of him. The faintest smile spread across his lips, but then it was gone.

_He felt it, too, _Maggie realized, _whatever it was._

Emboldened by her realization, she stepped toward him and asked quietly, "What else comes with the kissing?"

They locked gazes and Maggie's heart tightened in her chest. The room waited silently for several extended moments while Sirius wetted his lips and watched her with curious interest. Feeling drawn to her like a magnet, he took a shaky step, closing the distance between them. They were so close that Sirius could feel her breath coming hot and fast against his neck and chin. Maggie looked into his eyes one more time, and there was no way he could have stopped himself then even if he'd wanted to…not with her so close, not with his heart pounding so uncomfortably hard in his chest as if urging him to do what he kept avoiding.

Maggie melted. She moved nearer, placing their bodies inches apart. She soon felt his warm presence pressed against her arm; he looked down, causing a wave of terrifying emotions to sweep through her. She could almost feel her fingers start to tremble as the memory of his kiss swept powerfully over her, replaying in her head a million times in the span of a second.

Again, she felt his hot gaze land on her mouth, and again she tried fruitlessly to avoid the entire thing, but his commanding, dark gray orbs penetrated her resolve.

The fire's warm light was whispering between them, dancing slowly off their skin and into their eyes. His body stiffened, and Maggie's stomach dropped unexpectedly. She thought she'd be more prepared this time, more composed and aware, yet the same haze of confusion grazed her mind as she watched him beg for something with his eyes.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Maggie murmured, coming closer until their lips were mere centimeters apart, both breathing in the same warm, breath-dampened air.

"I beg to differ," Sirius replied quietly, brushing their lips together in the softest of kisses. "I think this is exactly what we should be doing."

Leaning over slightly, Sirius softly and gently pressed his lips against hers. His arms snaked around her waist, drawing her closer and she sighed into his mouth, running her own hands up his chest and then wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Sirius," she said, suddenly pulling out of their kiss, "this is…you are still a wanted man and a…well, a wizard. And Harry is still in the midst of a fight against the most evil wizard that ever lived…"

"Yes, I believe I have heard that somewhere." Sirius teased with a smile, his eyes flashing at her mischievously as he dropped another soft kiss on her lips. When their lips parted again, he added sarcastically, "And we're not simply playing house here, you know. But since you failed so miserably in your attempt to clear my name, I thought that you owed me one. Or two."

"You never told me what comes with the kisses, Mr. Black." Maggie reminded him breathlessly, running her fingertips through his long, dark tangles of hair and reveling in the feeling of it's surprising softness.

"What is it that you want, Miss Magnolia?" Sirius replied with a wicked grin, nipping at her soft lips and mentally counting the steps between the drawing room and his bedroom.

And then he pulled her into another deep, long kiss. Sirius' mouth tasted sweet from the chocolates he must have been eating late into the night and their tongues played together for several minutes until both of them were out of breath and hungry for much more than chocolate.

"This could make things pretty interesting." Maggie whispered, gasping as he placed soft, sweet kisses on the sensitive skin of her neck.

"Interesting indeed."


	18. Amazing

**Housekeeping #1 - Yes, I have been reading your reviews and taking your suggestions to heart! To prove it, I have changed the rating to T for this chapter and added the Sirius/OFC tag to the summary.**

**Housekeeping #2 - I do not write smut! So the bridge between chapter's Seventeen and Eighteen is purely up to your imagination! What's in this chapter is all you're going to get. Sorry...**

**Housekeeping #3 - This chapter is just a short, little bit of fluff about the morning after...**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Eighteen - Amazing**

The most amazing thing Sirius Black had ever seen was the naked semi-silhouette of Maggie Thompson's form in the early afternoon half-light.

He vaguely registered her slipping out of his arms and tiptoeing to the adjoining bathroom. Through his contented slumber, he hazily listened to the sound of the bath water running and simply enjoyed the presence of someone getting ready for the day in the quiet stillness of his bedroom.

He drowsily wondered where she might be going, as his unconscious threw images at him of their previous night's love-making, causing his body to ache for her warm presence back in his arms. He'd only really started to awaken when he heard her creep back into the dimly lit bedroom, stopping every few steps to retrieve the clothes and possessions they had dispensed with so carelessly mere hours earlier.

Sirius stretched lazily as she made her way to the chair in the corner of the room and dropped his things in it with a barely audible sigh and then cracked his eyes open just in time to see her peel her towel from around her body and drop it to the floor.

And there she stood…like a masterpiece of ancient art, posed exclusively for him, and without her knowledge. She was flesh and blood artistry in his presence.

Maggie leaned over to fish her bra out of the pile of clothes and wrapped it around herself, then fastened it deftly, and adjusted her generous flesh in the lacy red cups. Enjoying the show she was unknowingly putting on for him, Sirius thought back to all that he had learned about the elusive Miss Thompson when he'd had her flushed and naked in his bed. Like how truly beautiful she was, what a joyous and fun a lover she was, and how a man could get so totally lost in beautiful blue eyes that looked at him like they'd never seen another man that they'd liked quite so well. He'd learned all of that and more.

_But_, he thought with an inner grin, _he didn't mind a little further study._

Maggie continued dressing with her back to him, sleek and elegant, as she rifled through the pile of intermingled clothes, looking for something. He watched as she stepped into a pair of lacy red panties and pulled them up over her naked bottom and thighs and then repeated the motion with a pair of jeans. He kept his eyes almost closed as she turned and began searching for something to put on over that pretty red bra. He smiled internally as she found an emerald green shirt and slipped it over her head...the combination making him think of Christmas. And sex. Two of his very favorite things.

Moving over to the full length mirror standing near the window, she pulled a small hairbrush through her golden, wet locks and contemplated fastening it up into a ponytail with a band, but then decided against it.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a crackly morning voice, suddenly aware that she was about to leave the room.

She turned and looked at him in surprise as she whispered, "I didn't want to wake you."

A smile on her face, she stepped closer and sat down next to his long, lanky body on the bed. "Good morning," she smiled, leaning over him and bestowing on his lips a soft, sweet kiss. "Or should I say…afternoon?"

"Morning," he rumbled happily and kissed her back, the sensation of his new lover making his belly burn. "Or afternoon. Or whatever."

Her small hand, smelling of lavender soap, stroked his cheek, then slipped slowly down to his chest as their tongues began to mate in the dance that they'd invented the night before. His body was immediately awake and instantly starved for her. One of his hands curled around the nape of her neck, anchoring her mouth to his, while the other slipped over her knee, fingers brushing the inside of her thigh and inching slowly upwards.

She pulled away from him, eyes closed and breath shallow. "Hold that thought…" she panted, dropping three perfect kisses on his chest before moving to disentangle herself from his wandering hands.

"Magnolia…" he whispered in place of begging her to stay with him on the bed.

She caught his unspoken plea without him having to utter it and shot him a smile as she answered, "Sorry, sexy. But the members of the Order of the Phoenix will be here in a little while for their meeting and Molly has them so pampered that they will be expecting a large meal. And since Molly is no longer living here, that only leaves one of us to accommodate them."

"Can't they fend for themselves?" he questioned quietly, hoping that she held no regrets about their new involvement. "I mean, they're all grown adults and most of them spent the summer here at Grimmauld Place…they know where the kitchen is."

"Ahh...so you are willing to play the role of dedicated Order member and Dark wizard catcher unless it gets in your way of sex?" Maggie surmised, offering him a sly little smile as she leaned back in, kissing him quickly as if she couldn't stand to leave. "Not a very responsible thing to do. Besides, as you like to point out to me on a regular basis, I am not a witch and pretty much helpless here in the wizarding world...so the least I can do is cook for those who are putting their lives in danger on a regular basis. It's my part of the war effort, I suppose."

Sirius moaned grumpily and remarked, "I think I got too caught up in being young and free again last night." He threw one arm over his eyes and held the other up to her as he continued, "Give me a minute to wake up and I'll morph back into super wizard."

Maggie laughed at him as she rose up from the bed and moved back over to the dresser to pull out a pair of his warm socks to wear in the chilly basement kitchen. She paused and glanced over at him momentarily, looking every bit the cool and composed teacher that everyone knew her to be by day. Only now Sirius knew that the passionate and vivacious woman she became by night was always simmering just below the surface.

She was heading out the door when his arm snaked out from under the covers, grabbed her and pulled her back down to the bed, rolling her onto her back. She laughed at him, loud and belly-deep as he covered her body with his and began to attack her neck with eager lips and teeth. Her neck arched, as she put up a half hearted struggle, but he pinned her down easily and kissed down over her green t-shirt covered breasts.

"_Don't_..." he muttered. "..._want_..." kissing her all over. "..._you_..." pulling her closer. "..._to_..." breathing her in, "..._go_..."

He looked up at her, flushed and giggly under him, and suddenly her eyes sparkled – a momentary warning – before she grunted with effort and flipped him onto his back in one of the best self defense moves her older brothers had ever taught her.

What a woman.

Maggie smiled down at him smugly and adjusted her seat on his hips, carefully. He hummed and reached for her, smoothing his hands up her denim clad thighs and over her hips. She tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ears and leaned down to kiss him, her mouth taking control of his in an assertive kiss.

"Believe me, Black…" she muttered, straightening slowly, "the last thing I want to do right now is go make supper for…"

"Then don't," he grinned, pressing his hips up into her and letting her feel his naked arousal. He watched her eyes flutter closed fleetingly and her tongue come out to wet her lips.

"I have to," she huffed, unwillingly, "If I don't, someone will get curious and come running up here to see what has become of us and I'm afraid we could scar them for life if they saw us as we were last night."

He raised an eyebrow at her and she raised hers back as he disagreed, "As I said before, they are all adults. They know what goes on between lonely men and beautiful women when they finally stop fighting fate and admit that they fancy each other." He laced his fingers through hers and added with a grin, "In fact, I believe that Remus, Bill, and Mad-Eye have been placing their bets on when we would actually succumb to our passions."

"Sirius!" Maggie exclaimed, her face registering a look of alarm. "I guess some things are the same in the wizarding world as they are in the Muggle world…boys will be boys. In fact," she added cheekily, "I am sure you have studied the subject diligently over the years."

He grinned at her and teased, "And you were quite thankful for all my years of experience last night, if I remember correctly."

"I really do have to get downstairs. I'm not even sure what we have in the panty for me to prepare." she told him, as she bent over and nipped at his ear lobe with her teeth. They shared a smile and then he sighed deeply, resigning himself to her departure, but didn't let go of her hands. "But don't worry…after the meeting, when we have this place to ourselves again, I will make it up to you."

He felt her grin as she dragged her cheek along his, her warm breath coating his ear.

"How are you gonna do that?" he wondered, already thinking up ideas to assist her.

She pulled back, tossed her long locks over her opposite shoulder and leaned down to his other ear.

"I have my ways…" she whispered there, her voice over-flowing with mischief. "Secret Muggle ways…perfected by sweet, southern, Louisiana belles who came of age in the balmy heat of the deep south.

She met his eyes with a naughty grin and he chuckled lowly. She knew him too well.

"I'm going to hold you to that," he warned her, hands sweeping over her back and pulling her down to his mouth once again.

"I'll look forward to it," she whispered against his lips.

Suddenly, she pulled back and hastily got off him, grinning slyly. He propped himself up on his elbows and watched with a smoldering gaze as she straightened her shirt and turned towards the door.

He groaned a tortured groan and dropped his head back on the pillow as she headed out the door, telling him she'd see him soon.

"Maggie?"

Sirius called her back, without knowing why. He sat up on the bed, covering himself with a sheet – as if he feared that if she left the room he might once again wake alone, to find her only a figment of his imagination and desperate longing.

"What?" she breathed, popping her head back around the doorframe.

"Ah…" he stumbled, not really sure why he called her back and finally shook his head and muttered, "Nothing. See you downstairs."

She snorted and rolled her eyes, disappearing from the doorframe again.

Sirius flopped back to the bed, smelling her scent that was permanently trapped in the sheets and cast his mind forward in eagerness to when she returned to him…with a fervent body, open heart and big smile.

'_Let's get this show on the road'_, he thought, smiling to himself as he shucked off the sheets and got up from the bed, heading to the bathroom with a definite spring in his step.

The fine October day was not one to be wasted lazing about...for as it had dawned, it had brought with it the opportunity for him to witness the most amazing sight he could ever have imagined. And he knew he could now live in hope of many more days like it to come.

Which was something that Sirius Black hadn't been able to say in a very long time


	19. In the Moments Before

**Okay everyone, I have finally come to the conclusion that I have made a big mistake in this fic. Since I am not as talented as Jo, I will not be able to sustain my plot over three more years and follow it to the conclusion of Deathly Hallows. So, I am asking you to bear with me as I make a few changes…**

**#1 - Even though I said in Chapter 6 that Maggie arrived at Grimmauld Place in 1995, I am changing that to make the year 1996...so that Harry is actually 16. But, I am keeping it so that the Battle at The Department of Mysteries has not happened yet (**_**you will see why when you read this chapter and the one that follows**_**). So, I am pretty much just dissolving Harry's 5****th**** year at Hogwarts and causing the events of OoTP to happen in his 6****th**** year.**

**#2 - I am going to combine the events from OoTP, HBP, and DH all into one year…1996 and 1997...so that I can have all of these events occur before Harry's seventh year. I have my reasons and I hope this isn't a recipe for disaster, but I think I can write myself out of this one. That is the beauty of AU…**

**I hope I didn't confuse you too much. I think my intentions will be clearer as the chapters continue. But for now, please enjoy this one…**

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**Chapter Nineteen - In the Moments Before**

_Halloween Night, 1996_

Everything was silent in the house as a heavy, orange sun began its slow descent below the horizon. All of the portraits were quiet…not even the rustle of robes, sighs of breath, scraping of chairs, or shuffling of feet from any of the occupants of the numerous framed canvases could be heard.

But it was not just the portraits that were silent and unmoving; the occupants of the house were quiet, as well. No one wandered through the long, dark corridors and no one climbed or descended the stairs. Not even the common creaking of the bottom three steps could be heard. Even the sole house-elf was silent and still, hidden in the library on one of the upper floors. And regardless of the fact that five of the six people in the house all sat together in the basement kitchen, not a one of them spoke.

The silence was not an awkward one, nor was it brought on by any particular grief or sadness. No one was asleep and, fortunately, no one had died recently, regardless of the ever-present threat that each of them faced every day. Death always hung in the air, whether certain people would admit it or not, and the members of the Order faced it bravely. Still, they had been fortunate the first time around…except for Maggie, all of them had survived the terrors of the 1970s – some by fortune, some by luck, and some because they were too young to have been put in danger.

And so, they each sat in silence, lost in individual thought and as they stared into their drinks. Two glasses were filled to the brim with un-drunk Firewhiskey, two cups were half-filled with tea, that was, by now, cold, and another was an almost-empty glass of simple water that the young, purple-haired witch had consumed almost all of.

"Did I miss something?" said a voice from the kitchen's doorway. "It's like someone died in here."

All of the heads turned to look at the dark-haired man entering the kitchen. Uneasy laughter broke out as the silence slowly evaporated, and the sixth individual took a seat at the table's head, summoning the bottle of Firewhiskey from the figure sitting opposite him – a scarred, older man who had a chunk missing from his nose and an electric-blue eyeball that swirled around in its socket. The older man focused both of his eyes on the new arrival.

"I was drinking from that, you know, Sirius," he grunted, and Sirus gave a smirk before bringing the bottle's tip to his mouth.

After taking a deep swig, he replaced it on the table and, leaning forward in his seat, said,  
"You still have an entire glass in front of you, Mad-Eye. I believe you could spare me the bottle."

And he took another, lengthy swig.

"How's Buckbeak?" Maggie asked from her seat on his left, staring down into her own cup of untouched tea.

Sirius glanced over and took another drink, before replying, "He's fine, now. It was just a cut on his left leg, easy enough to bandage, but I'm still going to kill that elf. I don't know what could have gotten into him…Buckbeak is not threat to him."

Remus, sitting on his friend's opposite side, sighed, evidently not wishing to get into another 'discussion' over the house's very . . . _colourful_ . . . house-elf. Kreacher really was unlike any house-elf that Remus had ever come across, but judging from certain portraits in the house, an odd house-elf was almost to be expected. In fact, one could consider it to be one of the milder aspects of life at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

Silence descended on the group again, punctuated only by the occasional sigh or clinking of glass on wood as someone set their mug down on the table. The quiet, like earlier, still didn't feel so awkward, though there was an air of moroseness about it that had not been present earlier. Or, perhaps it had, but no one had really realized it. But the heavy silence did not last for too long before being broken.

"Do you ever wonder, Remus, what it would have been like if they hadn't died?"

Four heads immediately shot up in surprise as Maggie, Tonks, Mad Eye and Kingsley focused their attention on Sirius, who was not looking at any of them. He had eyes for only one person in the kitchen, but Remus did not answer right away, for the question had taken him by surprise. The words were not quite what he was expecting, but sensing his friend's need, he went with the line of conversation anyway.

"Almost every day," the werewolf answered quietly, "especially in the beginning . . . right after it happened."

Remus saw Sirius nod, but he also did not miss the slightly haunted look that shone in his friend's eyes for the briefest of moments, before Sirius stubbornly repressed it. Maggie, he noticed, saw it too.

"It isn't your fault, Sirius," she began. "You didn't kill them, and . . ."

"Would you have done what I did, Moony?" asked Sirius, completely ignoring her attempts to soothe him. "If you had known the truth back then, would you have gone after him, too?"

The immediate answer that came to Remus's mind was obvious. Of course, he would have chased after Peter. He would have wanted an explanation and the chance to avenge James and Lily. What other answer was there? But after taking one look into Sirius's eyes, he knew that his friend wanted pure honesty…the complete and real truth, even if the whole answer wasn't in agreement with Sirius's own choices.

"I would have wanted to know why," he whispered. "And I still do…it is something that I couldn't understand then, when Dumbledore told me, and I still can't understand it now. So . . . yes, Sirius, I probably would have gone after him . . . but I don't know if I would have tried to kill him."

The silence that had held its grip over the entire house descended once again on the kitchen. And, as they sat in the quiet, rain started to fall from the early night sky, its drops of water tinkling off of the glass window panes of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and creating a sort of peaceful and musical – yet simple – rhythm.

"I've never like the rain," Tonks commented, more to herself than to anyone else in the room. It was an obvious attempt to break through the silence, albeit a weak one. "Storms used to scare me as a child. Mum and dad could never seem to soothe me during a storm."

"It was raining on that Halloween night when James decided to propose to Lily," Sirius remembered quietly, a half smile coming to his face. "Do you remember that night, Remus?"

"Yes, I remember," said Remus, matching his friend's grin. "We were fresh out of Hogwarts and ready to take on the world…and James decided that he wanted to do it with Lily by his side."

"He had called us all up, saying to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron because there was something he needed to tell us," said Sirius.

"You joked that it probably had to do with Lily, and that she finally wised up and decided to dump James for you." Remus added, thinking back fondly.

"I had never seen him so nervous," Sirius added with a grin, "He was completely bewitched. He had this ring that had belonged to his mother and he kept turning it about in his hands as if it had the power to calm his nerves."

"And you kept ordering more Firewhiskey…courage in a glass, you called it."

Remus and Sirius laughed as the memories came back – good memories of times that should have continued forever between four friends. _But now, only two are where four should be,_ Remus thought bitterly. However, he kept the bitterness from his voice, knowing that the carefree enjoyment that Sirius now felt had been missing for too long. And perhaps Remus was being selfish, but he wanted his friend the way he was sixteen years ago . . . the way he was before Azkaban. The way he had seemed to be over the last few weeks.

"I'm guessing that he wasn't too drunk to propose?" Maggie asked, looking from Sirius to Remus and then back again as she urged them to continue their story.

"Drunk with love, maybe…"

Sirius laughed at Remus' bad joke and everyone smiled at the sound.

"It's good to see you laugh again, Sirius," Tonks remarked, watching her cousin closely.

"It's good to have something to laugh about," Sirius agreed and stole a not so subtle glance at Maggie, who quickly forgave him with a secret smile for cutting her off earlier. Looking back at the group, he added, "Actually, before Halloween was the most wretched day of the year for me, it was one of my favorites. James and I used to pull some great pranks when we were back at Hogwarts…usually at Snivellus' or Wormtail's expense."

"I had my first real conversation with Harry on Halloween," Maggie informed them, thinking back. "Six years ago. He was inside serving a detention…"

"Just like his father," Remus and Sirius said at the same time.

Maggie laughed and was about to continue with her story when a familiar screaming was heard from the main hallway, quickly followed by an unfamiliar voice shouting, "Oh, shut up!"

"Who is that?" Maggie asked, but it was clear that she was the only one in the room who did not know.

"What the bloody hell is he doing here?" Sirius demanded, standing up and slamming his bottle of Firewhiskey down on the table. His demeanor quickly changed as he hissed, "I don't want him to know that Maggie is here!"

"We'll take care of it, Siriu-…" Kingsley began, but he was interrupted by the sound of thundering footsteps coming down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Black!" the unfamiliar voice bellowed, "Sirius, are you here?"

"What are you bellowing about, Snivellus?" Sirius shouted back, looking frantically around the kitchen for some way to hide Maggie from the newcomer's view. But he did not have time as a sallow skinned, hook nosed man with greasy black hair bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. His black eyes settled for a moment on Maggie, but he quickly looked past her and Sirius toward Kingsley and Mad Eye.

"Potter is at the Department of Mysteries." He huffed out, completely out of breath. "It's a trap!"

"What are you talking about?" Sirius demanded, forgetting all about hiding Maggie from view.

"He saw you and he took off like a fool…" The sneering voice of Severus Snape echoed around the basement kitchen of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, and Maggie did not even have to look at the greasy man's face to feel the loathing directed at Sirius. And it was obvious that the feeling was absolutely mutual.

"What did Harry see?" Remus asked, suddenly alert and focusing his gaze on Snape.

"Potter has been having visions and he believes this one to be true…."

"Believes what to be true?" Maggie asked, her fear for Harry overriding her common sense. She knew all too well that the man had to be Severus Snape, who was not supposed to know that she was living at headquarters because Sirius didn't trust him, but spoke directly to him anyway.

Snape gave her a funny look as he directed his comments to Remus, saying "He believes the Dark Lord has Black in the Department of Mysteries. He and Granger went into the forest with Umbridge, but none of them have returned yet, which implies –"

"That Harry still thinks You-Know-Who has Sirius," interrupted Kingsley, who had risen from his chair and was already in the process of putting on his cloak.

"You really think he's going to the Hall of Prophecy?" muttered Tonks, looking at her former professor.

Snape shot the witch a look that seemed to say '_Are you completely stupid_?' but, fortunately, they all knew – and were used to – Snape's personality. "It is exactly the sort of idiotic and foolish thing the boy would do. Just like his father, he doesn't have the sense –"

"Snape –" started Sirius, but he was interrupted quickly by his old friend.

"Sirius, Severus, now is not the time," said Remus calmly, his voice still portraying the feeling of exhaustion that he felt towards the two men, neither of which would ever be able to have a civil conversation with the other. "We will go to the Ministry, find Harry, and bring him back. Voldemort wouldn't risk coming himself…"

"What is going on?" Maggie asked desperately, looking to Sirius for answers. "What is the Hall of Prophecy?"

But Maggie's questions were drowned out by the sudden chaos that erupted in the small kitchen. Moody and Tonks stood up from the table, joining Kingsley against the wall. They all started to leave the kitchen, with Remus and Sirius at the end, when Snape's voice caused them to halt.

"Where's Dumbledore?" he asked.

"He's due any moment," said Tonks. "Someone should tell him what's happened –"

"Black can stay," said Snape, jumping onto the end of Tonks's sentence.

"What?" asked Sirius, staring at Snape. The professor glared at him, a condescending look on his pale face.

"Are you deaf as well as stupid, Black?" he spat. "You, of all people, can't go to the Ministry, though I have no idea why you would even risk it."

"What are you on about?" Sirius hissed, paying no attention to Remus's words to calm down. All he could think of was Harry. "It's Harry we're talking about, and –"

"And you, Black, haven't left this house in almost a year. You also haven't fought any duels in almost _fifteen_ years, and in that last one, you didn't fare too well, did you?"

"Severus…"

"Are you calling me a coward?" Sirius hissed venomously, ignoring Remus' pleading look. His voice was deathly quiet, despite the temper and anger that Maggie could see bubbling just below the surface.

Snape looked ready to respond and the smirk on his pale face told everyone in the kitchen exactly what the response would have been. The former Death Eater, however, did not get the chance to have his retort heard.

"Perhaps Snape is right, Sirius," grunted Moody, turning both his regular and magical eye in the direction of Sirius. "Not about what you think," he continued, raising a scarred hand to forestall the inevitable arguments that seemed ready to come from the black-haired man in the doorway. "There aren't any 'cowards' here, but if you are caught –"

"I don't have time for this," Sirius interrupted the Auror, not really caring about what was going to be said. "Do you honestly believe that I am incapable of understanding what would happen to me if I were caught? Not even Dumbledore would be able to save me, and just the thought of seeing – of _feeling_ – those creatures again causes shivers to run down my spine. But Harry is walking into a trap and I'll be damned if I am going to let him down again!"

"Again?" Maggie asked, knowing at once that he was talking about James. Sirius had already failed once – with James – and there was no way he would break another promise.

Sirius was pacing along the worn floor in front of the fireplace, running his hands through his long hair as he did so, his chest still rising and falling rapidly with the heavy breathing that the discussion had caused. He glared at her and repeated, "It's _Harry_, Maggie. You of all people should know that I _have_ to go."

"You would be safer here," Remus interjected quietly, "and if you were caught –"

"Goddamn it, Remus, I know!" exclaimed Sirius as he shifted his glare from Maggie to his friend, the frustration and anger he had felt inside finally being unleashed. "How could I possibly forget about it, especially with people reminding me of Dementors and Azkaban at every chance they get? I mean, does everyone in the whole bloody Order think I'm too ignorant to know that if they catch me, my soul is gone? Do you think I could forget twelve years of that?"

"Padfoot, I . . ." But Remus trailed off into silence, no words coming.

"I already failed once, Remus," muttered Sirius. "I won't fail again . . . not Harry." Sirius looked at his friend, almost like he was daring him to argue with him, daring Remus to tell him he wasn't coming to save Harry. They both knew that there were plenty of reasons that existed why he shouldn't go. But all of them had been spoken before, and Sirius refused to listen to them. As far as he was concerned, they paled in comparison to the one reason why he _should_ go – Harry.

Maggie stared at the two men and knew she should say something to try and convince her lover to stay, but after meeting Sirius's intense gaze, she realized it wouldn't do any good. Sirius's eyes burned with determination, so she silently bit her tongue.

Remus didn't give any objections either, and Sirius stalked towards the door, brushing past Maggie as he did so. He made it to the end of the corridor before her quiet words caused him to stop.

"You didn't fail James, Sirius."

Sirius, his back still facing her, turned around slowly so that he was seeing Maggie out of the corner of his eye. He did not face her fully and instead, still staring at the ground, spoke in a voice so quiet that Maggie had to strain to hear the words.

"Yes, Magnolia, I did."

"Sirius…"

"Don't," he whispered hoarsely, raising his eyes to look at her, "Don't ask me not to go."

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Maggie squared her shoulders and asked, "What shall I tell Dumbledore when he arrives?"

Without a word, he closed the distance between them in two steps and pulled her roughly into his arms. He crushed her lips with his in a kiss that was both desperate and hungry at the same time. Maggie returned his kiss with equal fervor, clutching at the front of his shirt and not caring that the members of the Order were just down the hall. When they finally broke apart, she was breathless as well as speechless, and she could feel him almost trembling.

"When Dumbledore arrives," Sirius told her, stepping away from her embrace and backing down the hallway as his dark eyes focused on hers, "tell him that I am going after my godson."


	20. Steel Magnolias

**This chapter is dedicated to all of the mothers, wives, and families of our service men and women...police officers, rescue workers, firefighters, and soldiers! As the daughter of a retired member of the FDNY, Maggie's little speech is deeply personal for me...**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty - Steel Magnolias**

_They were frightened._

_Harry._

_Ginny._

_Ron._

_Hermione._

_The four teenagers were trying with all of their strength to be brave, but the true terror that they were feeling overwhelmed them._

The rain outside of the drawing room window was pattering on the roof like the footfalls of giant animals, as large drops slammed against the glass panes and a cool breeze caused the fallen leaves to dance along the sidewalks of Grimmauld Place. Perfectly manicured fingernails tapped along the ornately carved windowsill as Maggie's delicate fingers paused over the dark wood, slipping over the edge and gripping it tightly until her knuckles turned white. She turned slightly, pulling at the protective wrap that covered her shoulders and her gaze fell to the bright, moonlit night.

The pale white light cascaded over a massive courtyard below as the young teacher leaned heavily against the smooth glass of the window and the cool air from outside chilled her skin, causing goose bumps to rise. The cold snap of air made her feel good. It made her feel alive. It was strange that she would welcome being cold as comfort, but she did.

It gave her something else to think about.

A shiver seized her but it was not from the cold. It was from the memory of watching Sirius storm out of his family home with a determined look in his eyes, causing unmistakable looks of concern in the eyes of his companions.

_He would bring Harry back. Or he would die trying._

A thunderstorm was nature's own symphony of light and sound. Every ten seconds the night sky was illuminated by a spectacular streak of luminescence, followed almost immediately by a reverberating clap of deafening thunder. It was a natural phenomenon, as was the hurricane that had destroyed the southern parishes of Louisiana when she was a child. Or the eruption of the previously dormant volcano in Scotland when she had been a freshman at Oxford. Or that catastrophic earthquake in Wales earlier in the spring.

A thousand years ago, people would have said that those calamities were the consequences of a battle between higher powers. Or that they were sent down as a punishment for the wrong-doing of man.

And tonight they wouldn't be wrong.

As a teacher, Maggie's background was firmly rooted in science and she knew that there was a logical explanation for the natural disasters that occurred in the world…a movement of pressure systems, the build up of stress beneath volcanic rock, the shifting of tectonic plates beneath the earth's surface.

But then three months ago she learned of a world running parallel to the one she had grown up in…a world where the impossible was a daily occurrence. People teleported themselves halfway across Britain with a twirl, items appeared out of mid-air with the flick of a wand, and inanimate objects set themselves in motion with a single command.

So, this Halloween thunderstorm that whipped the trees outside into a frenzy might be a normal lightning storm. Or it might also be the work of a sadistic sorcerer as he threw down spells upon witches and wizards who had become like family to her.

And one who had become something else to her completely.

Maggie's heart beat faster as the sudden fear she was sensing turned into something else…

_Shock._

_Sorrow._

_Grief._

_Someone was dead._

Tears fled down her cheeks and she felt helpless that there was nothing she could do to stop them. Terrible sobs wracked her as she gripped the windowsill for support. Weakness had seized her legs and all she wanted to do was collapse on the cold stone floor and weep until there was no strength left to live.

It had been so much easier when Maggie was not aware of this magical world or her place within it….when she could not sense the emotions of those closest to her heart. Or at least when she didn't know what she was sensing. It was no longer unbelievable to Maggie that her aunt had not wanted to completely embrace her powers as an Empath…at this moment, she herself would give anything not to have them.

At first, it had seemed that magic would solve so many problems. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could just wave a wand and have peace, joy and love throughout the world?

But it had only taken the last few hours for Maggie to become completely disillusioned. Because just like during the battles of the ancient Gods, the aftermath of tonight's altercation could change the world forever.

Uncertainty was not an enjoyable place to be. The fear and the anxiety and the scrambled emotions that she was sensing gripped her heart like an iron-clad vice…

"Maggie?"

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she straightened and found a slight reserve of strength as the calming voice of Molly Weasley filled the drawing room. Pasting a fake smile on her face, Maggie turned to face the other woman and asked, "Molly? When did you get here?"

"Just now, dear," Molly replied kindly. "I brought Fred and George with me. They are searching the upper floors for Kreacher, as I fear he may have played a larger role in tonight's events than we originally thought."

"And Arthur, is he with you?"

She shook her head and Maggie knew that she was trying not to cry as she replied, "He has gone to the Ministry with Bill to see if they could help in any way…"

Maggie's sharp intake of breath was her only response as Molly's voice broke and trailed off, leaving a deafening silence between the two women. Their eyes met and Molly quietly put on a brave façade as she told her, "It gets easier, my dear. You will get used to it."

Her attention turned back to the once elegant drawing room in the east wing of The Noble House of Black…her new home. There were at least ten rooms like this one for her and the members of the Order of the Phoenix to call their own. Maggie was not wanting for space and it suddenly felt like a prison cell.

"My father was in the American army and he went off to fight in the Vietnam War just months before I was born." Maggie told Molly quietly as the older woman moved further into the drawing room. "My older brothers would tell me stories of how my mother was sometimes too afraid to answer the phone or the door in fear that it would be an officer telling her that my father was dead. And when he did come home in one piece, he didn't make things easier on her at all…he went to the fire academy and became a fire fighter."

Molly chuckled and shook her head as she said, "Sometimes men don't realize how much their decisions affect our daily sanity."

Maggie smiled a sad smile in agreement as she continued, "Every time that my father left the house, we knew that there was a very real possibility that he could get called to a fire, something could go wrong, and we would never see him again. But, we kind of put it out of our minds so that we could…you know, live normal lives. And then two of my brothers followed in my father's footsteps and became firemen."

Maggie's voice broke as she told Molly, "My mother was one of the strongest women I've ever met, but one day I found her in a pile of tears in the kitchen. She told me that sometimes she just had to cry…because every time a fire call went out, her heart and soul got on fire trucks all over our parish with my father and my brother's. It shook me up for such a long time to see her that way and now…"

"You are walking a mile in your mother's shoes?" Molly asked knowingly. She took a deep breath and joined Maggie at the window as she said, "I think your mother and I would have a lot to discuss if we ever sat down for a cup of tea. When Arthur and I got married, it was because the war was raging and we knew that time was precious. We had our beautiful babies as You-Know-Who rose to power, but Arthur and I were buried in nappies, training brooms, and the business of raising our little family. We had very little to do with fighting against the Dark Lord. Percy and the twins were still very small, and Bill and Charlie were almost the age that Ron and Ginny are now. We were catching our breath at getting the boys ready and off to school and there was no way we could be actively involved in the war effort, and frankly, we were too scared for our little family to do much of anything. We raised our children and lived our lives and did our best to survive. But then my brothers were killed, and the Potters, and…"

Molly's voice trailed off as she stared into the dwindling fire and Maggie simply waited for the woman to collect herself. Finally, after a few long and quiet minutes, her voice returned to normal strength as she continued, "And now, we're facing another war, and this time we're _all _fighting it in some way or another. My son, Percy, is not speaking to the family and I'm not sure I even know who he is anymore and that terrifies me more than almost anything else going on around here.

"And for whatever reason, my two youngest children are drawn to Harry like a magnet and their lives are all tangled up in his, so our entire family will fight this war…this war that will tear us apart, no matter what happens."

As her eyes filled with tears for the sorrow that Molly Weasley carried with her, Maggie asked quietly, "How do you do it, Molly? How do you keep from locking them all up in a basement somewhere and throwing away the key? How do you stand letting them leave your sight for even an instant?"

Molly looked up at the young woman and smiled through her unshed tears as she answered, "I make stew. That's how."

"Stew?" Maggie asked, laughing in spite of herself.

"Courgette stew." Molly repeated, taking Maggie's hand and leading her out of the drawing room. "And while I am thinking about making stew, I have little time to think upon other things. Things that break your heart and send shivers down your spine. So, let's go make some stew…shall we?"

Maggie nodded and together they walked toward the kitchen to set about the business of making stew to take their minds off what was happening around them.

As Maggie was chopping vegetables on Molly's orders, the older woman smirked at her and said, "I haven't always been this officious, priggish, Mother-person, you know. Believe it or not, my twins did not inherit their behavior from Arthur…as much as I hate to admit it, they're all mine. Why, when Arthur and I were at Hogwarts…"

Molly drifted off again, but this time with a smile playing on her lips and Maggie grinned at her self-description and at the thought of a younger Molly Weasley.

"Yes, Molly, I've met Ginny," Maggie teased with a smile, "I didn't think it came out of nowhere."

Pointing the knife she was using in Maggie's direction, Molly winked and shot back, "You just wait until it happens to you, Miss Magnolia. Becoming a mother is going to change a lot more about you than just your girlish figure." Sobering a bit, Molly added, "From the first moment I learned that I would bear a child, I took the title of '_Mother' _and wore it like a badge of honor, of pride and privilege. It became my life's work to nurture and to teach and to feed and clothe and protect and mend and discipline and defend and foster and shelter and shield and instruct and everything else that was part of a mother's duty, of a mother's love."

Molly smiled wistfully at Maggie and continued, "I spent a thousand sleepless nights by their bedsides, through illnesses and injuries. I shed a thousand tears on their behalf and wiped away a thousand more of theirs. I guess that the Gryffindor in me should be proud of their bravery, but the most terrifying thing I have ever done is to send my children out into the world, time and time again. And that kind of constant fear, that low-level anxiety changes you after a while so that I am now afraid of my own shadow and a simple boggart in the desk. But now Ron and Ginny and Harry are out there and…"

"They are going to be fine." Maggie interrupted, not wanting Molly to allow herself to think anything different. But as she watched the red headed woman busy herself with her stew, Maggie realized that she was fundamentally incapable of truly comforting her. This was something that Molly had been battling for a long time, and would continue to fight until the day that Voldemort fell.

"I think it is something that Sirius is learning now, as well."

Maggie snapped back to attention at Molly's words and asked, "What?"

"Sirius is Harry's parent now and I can sense him changing a bit…worrying about Harry's future, over-reacting to ridiculous things, fearing that every mistake Harry makes might be THE one Sirius can't correct." Molly told her knowingly. "He didn't run out of here tonight simply because of guilt over James and Lily, Maggie. I don't know what would become of Sirius if something happened to Harry."

Maggie nodded in agreement as Molly added, "Or to you."

The two women locked gazes as Molly whispered, "You love him, don't you?"

"Love him?" Maggie scoffed, feeling the blush creep up her cheeks, "I barely know him."

"Mmm hmmm." Molly hummed thoughtfully, smiling secretively at her young friend. "I went up to your bedroom looking for you when I arrived…before I found you in the drawing room…and noticed that your bed hadn't been slept in for weeks. Are you having trouble sleeping, Magnolia?"

Maggie practically dropped the knife that she was using to cut vegetables and she felt the warmth completely invade her face as it spread through her cheeks and down her neck. Not wanting Molly to think badly of her, Maggie was just about to explain when they both heard it.

Click.

Someone had opened the front door to Grimmauld Place. Sirius's mother's portrait was quiet, though, as her curtains had been drawn and Maggie and Molly both held their breath as they ran up the kitchen steps.

Maggie saw him first and darkness seemed to creep into the hall he was standing in. His  
shoulders held the weight of many burdens and tired, sad eyes almost seemed to look past her to something calling him in the distance. She covered the distance between them in only a few short strides and threw her arms around him, holding on with all that she had.

"Harry," she whispered into his shoulder and allowed a few unshed tears to roll down her face as his long arms closed around her.

He had come back.

And he was safe.

"Ginny!"

Molly rushed past the pair as mother and daughter reunited, and everyone started talking at once.

"Where's Ron?"

"What happened?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Mum, we're fine…"

"Maggie, you're hurting me…ease up, I'm okay!"

"Where is everyone else?"

"Let's go sit down," Harry finally said, looking as though he were about to fall down from exhaustion, "and we'll explain everything."

The foursome all moved into the living room where Harry and Ginny sat together on the sofa while Molly hovered and Maggie pulled up a nearby armchair.

"Let me get you something to eat," Molly offered, bustling about.

"Mum, stop." Ginny commanded quietly, smiling sadly up at her mother. "Just sit down here next to me and let us explain."

Molly nodded and sat on Ginny's other side as Harry took a deep breath and began, "Ron and Hermione are alright. They have been taken to the hospital wing at Hogwarts to have Madam Pomfrey tend to their injuries…but they are alive and will make full recoveries."

Maggie could hear Molly exhale the breath that she had been holding as Harry continued, "Professor Lupin has taken Tonks to St. Mungo's to get her patched up, but we are pretty certain that she will be as good as new after some bedrest."

"How is Remus?" Maggie asked quickly.

"He's fine," Ginny assured her. "Just worried about Tonks."

Maggie nodded as Harry quickly said, "Dumbledore, Bill, and Mr. Weasley stayed behind at the Ministry to clear up some business. Kingsley is taking custody of the body and…"

"Body?" Maggie and Molly asked at the same time.

He exchanged a look with Ginny and grabbed hold of her hand as he let out a breath and whispered hoarsely, "Mad Eye was killed while battling Voldemort's Death Eaters."

Maggie's hand immediately flew to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears and Harry continued, "There was nothing that we could do. Nothing that anyone could do. There were so many of them…"

"It's okay, Harry," Molly reassured him, pulling Ginny into her embrace and taking hold of Harry's free hand. "It's not your fault."

"It is!" Harry shouted, standing up suddenly and moving away from the sofa. "I should have continued my Occulemency lessons with Snape, but I didn't. If I had, I would have known that Voldemort was tricking me…"

"He has outsmarted much older and wiser wizards than you, Harry," Molly told him softly. "You can't blame yourself."

Harry didn't look so sure. He had watched Mad Eye fall and was powerless to save him. Mad Eye, who seemed so solid and indestructible. Hanging his head, he whispered, "Kingsley will see to it that Moody's body will be given it's proper honor."

The front door to Grimmauld Place opened again and Maggie's head turned swiftly to see who had come in. Dumbledore, Arthur, Bill, and two teen-agers that Maggie didn't recognize…a gangly young man and a dreamy looking girl, who were both a little worse for wear…staggered into the living room. Fred and George apparated into the room with a "Crack" and amidst the joyful clamors of the reuniting Weasley family and friends, Maggie finally located the face that she was most desperate to see.

Caked in mud with his dark hair stringy from rain and dirt, Sirius looked more noble then she had ever seen him. Jumping up from her chair and not caring who witnessed it, Maggie ran toward her lover with a broad smile lighting up her face. Pressing both of her palms to his cheeks, she threw herself in his arms. Her eyes shut in his embrace and she held to him dearly.

"You are safe," she murmured into his shoulder. "Thank God you are safe!"

Sirius could feel the tension of the previous evening leave her body as she relaxed against his muscular frame. He breathed in the scent of her, fresh and lovely even here in the midst of so much sadness. He held her tight at first but gradually softened his grip on her, grateful for the comfort that her presence brought to him.

Breaking free of his embrace, Maggie took a small step back to scrutinize him. Scanning his rugged face, she reassured herself that he was truly uninjured and her eyes misted with the pain and joy of his loss and return.

Sirius, too, took this time to study her. There were dark streaks of dirt on her smooth chin from resting it against his grimy, battered jacket. Her hair was untamed from the many hours she had spent raking her worried fingers through it and her vivid blue eyes flashed up at him with gladness. He briefly forgot all around him and lost his breath - he thought she was that beautiful.

Lifting his hand to her face, his fingers rested against her jaw bone, thumb brushing tenderly against a dark smudge on her chin, he asked, "Did you really think that you were going to get rid of me that easily?"

His comment brought a smile to her lovely face, and she reached up to touch the rugged handsomeness of his face.

"I was so scared," she admitted in a whisper.

"So was I," he told her as he returned her smile and touched her lips soflty with his.

Against her mouth, he added in a hoarse whisper, "But knowing that you were here waiting for me made me want to come home all the more," before drawing her back into the comfort of his strong embrace, and then no more was said.


	21. In the Arms of an Angel

**Chapter Twenty One - In the Arms of an Angel **

The rain poured down in bleak sheets, continuing to soak all of London. Not once had the moon peeked through dark clouds, though the storm had lessened sometime after midnight. The rain had let up to a light drizzle, misty and cold, but that had not lasted for more than a few hours. The storm had regained its strength, brightening the sky with flashes of lightning and rattling the very foundations of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place with growling thunder.

The floorboards creaked underneath her weight as Maggie climbed the stairs to Sirius' fourth floor bedroom and she froze as her head whipped around to see if anyone had heard. But the house was silent and Maggie continued upwards until she reached the top step and came face to face with the door to the master bedroom.

Maggie knew that he was inside because she had heard him climbing the stairs about an hour before, after his secret, closed door meeting with Harry and Dumbledore in the drawing room had finally come to an end. She had also heard him pause outside her door on the third floor before he continued up to his own bedroom.

It had taken her the next hour to gather the courage to join him.

Before she could reach up to quietly knock on the door, it swung open to reveal the man himself wearing a bathrobe over his pajamas.

"I didn't think I would see you tonight." Sirius confessed softly, smirking at her. "I hoped I would, but I didn't think you would risk it…"

"Risk what?"

"Getting caught," he answered simply, letting his eyes travel unabashedly over her. "In my room. By Molly or Ginny…or Harry." 

Maggie chuckled softly and reminded him, "I think our secret is out after…"

"…after you flew into my arms in your great relief at seeing me alive?" He finished for her, raising his eyebrow in amusement.

"I didn't fly anywhere," Maggie shot back quickly and could feel the blush creep into her cheeks as she then admitted quietly, "Okay, so maybe I flew…a little. But I was worried."

"I noticed."

She didn't think this was an appropriate moment for him to be teasing her, so she squared her shoulders and answered haughtily, "I'm still worried. About you. And Harry."

"Harry is fine." Sirius reassured her, sobering from his playful mood quickly. "Neville is with him and staying in Ron's bed…"

"Neville is a child," Maggie snapped, "As are Harry and Ginny and the twins and…"

"Not anymore they're not." Sirius interrupted, staring at her intently. "Not after tonight."

Maggie's eyes involuntarily filled with tears as he continued, "Children of war grow up quickly. They play in a world that is dark and dangerous, but it is just a part of everyday life. They have been recruited as fighters, soldiers. They attend funerals of classmates. Tears come easily and almost everyone has lost a family member or friend. They spend their days worrying about whether or not they should forgo relationships for fear of pain and loss." His voice sounded faraway as his tone shifted when he added, "We go home each night and cry. In fear, in anger, in pain. We have forgotten the sounds of laughter and loving."

_We_.

Maggie knew in that instant that Sirius was not simply talking about Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna and the Weasley children. He was speaking of himself and Remus and James and Lily…children who had also grown up during a time of war.

A shaft of light fell across the gray-eyed man and Maggie could sense that he was remembering a time when life was easy -- when everything was black and white, good and evil, Gryffindor red and Slytherin green. Those days were far behind him, now. Too far. He had become jaded. Cynical too soon. His innocence was shattered. Life had never been easy for this wild, beautiful man, yet he still yearned for the simple days, when pranks and exams were the problems in the forefront of his mind, when he spent his days laughing with his friends and flirting with girls and hexing his enemies. He wondered if he would ever remember those feelings. Or if those days were gone forever.

And she silently cursed the fact that she was an Empath. Especially on this night…a night where too many emotions were running through the house and too many hearts had been broken.

Glancing up to meet his haunted eyes, Maggie whispered, "I just didn't think that you should be alone tonight."

"Thank you."

"But," she added quickly, unsure of his reaction to her offer, "if you want me to go…"

"Don't go." He interrupted her with more force in his tone than either of them had expected. Covering quickly, he pasted on a fake smile and joked unconvincingly, "Neville and Harry are sharing a room, Luna is in with Ginny, the twins have each other and Molly and Arthur are together in their room. And Bill is staying in Remus' room so that means that you and I are the only ones without roommates…"

"Sirius…"

"Stay with me."

There was no playfulness left in his tone and there were no more words spoken between them as he reached for her hand and pulled her inside.

Maggie's heart fluttered wildly as she stole her way into his bedroom, her presence betrayed by nothing but the shadows that littered the floor. Letting go of her hand, Sirius moved to the window and lit a single candle. Maggie looked around the room, illuminated only by flashes of lightning and the flicker of a single candle, and at first glance it was certainly not a place one would consider romantic or intimate. But Maggie smiled to herself as she thought of all the secrets that were held in these rustic walls…the secret smiles, the intimate whispers and stolen kisses of two lovers whose passion had come as a complete surprise to both of them.

Sirius then aimed his wand at the hearth and lit a fire. He moved slowly over to the bed and they sat together, side by side, each of them afraid to break the silence.

"Was it bad?" she finally asked softly, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah…"

"What happened?"

"Fighting," he answered. "Wands. Spells. Domination. Hate."

"Death."

"That too."

"How much?"

"Why do you want to know?" Sirius didn't want to tell her this. He didn't want to share this with her. It was bad enough that he'd had to witness it and that the children had to witness it. Maggie was the only person left he could protect from what had occurred at the Department of Mysteries…

"I'm trying to understand," Maggie answered, breaking into his thoughts. Her voice was still soft, gentle. "Trying to understand what happened tonight, what it did to you and Harry and everyone else…."

Sirius was quiet as he realized that she was trying to understand something that he didn't even fully understand himself. He'd lived it, that hell, and was no closer to an answer than he had ever been. She would never get what she was looking for.

Maggie tried to speak. She tried, but he wouldn't let her.

"Sirius, I-"

He placed a finger on her lips. "I know."

He could feel the weight of her stare. He met her gaze, and for a long time, they stayed that way, lost in the other. How much time passed by, he didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't want to look away. She might vanish if he looked away.

With a trembling hand, he touched her face. She was a mess: hair tangled and unruly, eyes bloodshot from crying, cheeks stained red.

And he thought to himself, he had never laid eyes on anyone more beautiful.

The words had never been spoken between them. Sirius wondered if they needed to even be voiced at all. His arms opened to her of their own accord, and she felt herself melt into them as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"There are some things that I need to be able to protect you from. This is one of those things." He whispered, pulling her petite body over to him. "Let me do that, Magnolia. Let me protect you from this."

Maggie was silent as they leaned back on the bed and Sirius laid his head on the pillow, drawing her up into his arms. Feeling safer than she had ever felt before, Maggie gave a small, contented sigh and buried her face in Sirius' chest. Sirius smiled a little and kissed her golden hair as he breathed in the familiar scent of his Magnolia. 

Sirius ran his hands soothingly up and down her back as they laid together in the quiet, stillness of his bedroom. The actions were almost unconscious because he felt like he'd been moving in some sort of hazy dream. Maybe he'd been dreaming all along, sleepwalking through this whole ordeal. He wanted that to be true. He wanted to wake himself up from this fog of numbness. He wanted Moody back because the Auror was always better at being rational about things than he was.

But Maggie's very presence was so soothing to him and he didn't know how he would have gotten through these past few weeks without her.

Ignoring the protest of his aching muscles, sore and tense from fatigue and the roughing up he'd experienced over the last few hours, Sirius pulled Maggie even closer to him, sighing slightly at the comfort he received when he felt her nuzzle her cheek against his chest as he did so. 

"Moody's gone," He whispered and Maggie barely heard the sound at all.

She looked up at him and saw something in his eyes, something like a switch that had been flipped inside him. She wondered what things were like before her arrival. She wondered if Sirius was ever this quiet or this dark. It was her last coherent thought before he suddenly kisses her.

Sirius vaguely tasted what was left of her lip-gloss and thought it was blackberry, which seemed unusual for most women. But not for Maggie. He could feel her tongue working inside his mouth and began to feel his internal temperature start to rise.

He knew this was wrong. He knew that he was only using her like she was some sort of medication or drug. He had to have her though, because he didn't want to go through the rest of his life with this cold numbness consuming him. He had to wake up from the nightmare his life had become. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to think because he was tired of coldness and rationality and numbness. He simply wanted to feel. He wanted to feel alive because there had been too much death in his life already.

So he kept kissing her, searching and groping for the drug that would get him high again. He was secretly pleased when Maggie returned his advances, their tongues dueling in her mouth while his hands began roaming up under her tank top and along the smooth skin of her back.

A long time later, they were both tired and sated as they faced the ceiling and closed their eyes. Maggie, though, didn't know whether what they did was the binding of two hearts or the mating of two bodies, and therein was the conflict. They, of all people, had that way of dancing around words, of never saying what they should, of hurting one another only to soothe the wounds they inflicted. So, they simply lay next to each other under the blankets, talking in soft whispers, enjoying being close to each other. And all the time, his hand held on to hers without letting go.

"Maggie?"

She didn't answer with words, but rolled over until their bodies were touching again, and Sirius' heart stood still as he never imagined that anything could feel so good. He traced small circles on her back with his fingertips and the delicate rhythm of the motion sent shivers down her spine as he said quietly, "I have to tell you about Harry."

Suddenly unnerved by the tone of his voice, Maggie tensed and looked up at him as she asked, "What about Harry?"

"Shhh," he whispered, trying to calm her nerves. He pulled her closer again and could feel her body begin to relax against him and the up and down motion of her chest began to slow as her breathing returned to normal. Resting his chin on the top of her head, he said, "I have to tell you what Dumbledore told us in the drawing room. It's about Harry's fate…and I need you to stay calm. Because Harry is going to need the two of us more than ever now."

Maggie drew in a staggered breath and closed her eyes as she whispered, "Tell me."

"It's about Harry's scar…"

"The one that Voldemort left on him when he killed James and Lily?"

Sirius nodded and continued, "Voldemort has figured out that the scar allows Harry to be privy to Voldemort's thoughts and actions. Assuming this connection works both ways, the Dark Lord began forcing his way into Harry's thoughts and so Dumbledore ordered Snape to give Harry Occlumency lessons…a way to seal Harry's mind against magical intrusion and influence. Voldemort knew the only person Harry would go to great lengths to save was me, so he projected an image of my torture into Harry's mind so that Harry would go to the Ministry of Magic."

"Where the battle took place tonight?"

"Yes." Sirius confirmed, running a hand through her tangled hair. "Hidden in the Ministry was a prophecy that Voldemort needed Harry to retrieve because he could not risk entering himself, and no one else would ever be able to touch it."

Maggie turned her face to look up at him as he continued, "Sixteen years ago, Sybill Trelawney made a prophecy about a boy who was born at the end of July to parents who had defied Voldemort three times. This part of the prophecy could have applied to either Harry or Neville, who was also born at the end of July and his parents were also members of the Order. However, the prophecy went on to say that Voldemort would mark the child as his equal, choosing the boy that he believed would be the most dangerous to him. But Voldemort only heard the first part of the prophecy. The second part proclaimed that the child would have powers that the Dark Lord would not know, and that either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives."

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Sirius could feel Maggie stiffen in his arms before she bolted upright in the bed. Staring at him in disbelief, she exclaimed, "What?"

"Maggie…"

"_Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives_?" she repeated, staring at him wild eyed. "Does that mean that…?"

Sirius knew instantly when the words registered in her mind because her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes filled with unabashed tears.

"No!" she screamed, as Sirius sat up and reached for her. But she moved away from him and jumped off the bed as the tears rolled down her cheeks. "That's a lie! Take it back! Sirius Black, you take that back right now!"

"Maggie…" he repeated, throwing back the covers and following her out of the bed.

"Of all the cruel jokes you could possible think of to play on me, that is by far the worst…" Her voice trailed off as she choked on her own sobs and simply repeated, "Take it back!"

"I can't, Maggie." He told her, his own voice catching in his throat. "I wish that I could. I wish that I could un-hear it or un-know it, but I can't. Dumbledore told us tonight after the battle…"

Maggie began shaking her head in disbelief and continued to back away from him until she backed herself into the wall. Sobbing uncontrollably, she slid down the wall and crumpled into a heap in the corner.

Pulling the blanket off the bed with him, Sirius wrapped it around her and gathered her trembling form up in his strong arms. Cradling Maggie as if she were a small child, he carried her back to the bed and pulled her back into his embrace, making soothing noises all the while. Maggie buried her face in Sirius' chest and clung to him tightly as her crying increased so that she seemed to choke herself on each sob. He didn't fail to notice this and pulled his lover as close to his chest as he could manage. He rubbed Maggie's arm and back until, at long last, her crying stopped.

He felt, rather than heard, Maggie's breathing return to normal. Their hands found their way to each other's, and Sirius watched in amazement as she threaded her fingers through his as she asked, "So, Harry either has to become a murderer or a martyr?"

Holding back his own tears, Sirius simultaneously nodded and answered, "So it seems."

"And either way, we lose him."

"We won't lose him." he told her forcefully, subconsciously holding on to her tighter. "Harry is a strong and powerful wizard. While wounded, frightened, and outnumbered two to one, Harry, Ginny, and their friends performed admirably, showing much courage and skill in the face of real and immediate danger. If you could have seen him in battle tonight…"

"But even if he survives, he'll never be the same." Maggie interrupted, her tears returning once again.

"None of us will ever be the same, Maggie."

"We can't change this?" she asked, ignoring his ominous statement. "We can't figure out a way to protect him?" Turning over to stare at him, she continued frantically, "You are free now…Ginny said that the Ministry officials saw for themselves that Peter Pettigrew is not dead because he stood beside Lord Voldemort. You aren't confined to this house anymore, which means that we can protect him."

"How?"

"We could take him away," Maggie sputtered out, not thinking rationally. "My family is in Louisiana. No one would look for him in Louisiana. We could take them all - the Weasley's, Remus, Tonks…"

Sirius reached out and stopped her chattering as he pushed a strand of her hair out of her face and gently whispered, "They won't go, Maggie. And neither will Harry."

"We can make him go!" she cried desperately, blinking back another batch of fresh tears. "You are his godfather, Sirius! He's not of legal age yet and he has to listen to you! All you would have to do is tell him that you want him to go into hiding…"

"You know that's not true." Sirius interrupted quietly, moving his hand down to stroke her fevered cheek. "Harry was told tonight that he has the power to save the world and that is what he is going to do. And because I am his godfather…because I love him…I have to let him try." He looked at her knowingly and added softly, "And so do you."

Maggie simply stared at him for what seemed like an eternity before she simply shook her head and asked, "What is his power?"

Sirius gave her a proud smile and said, "There's my brave girl…."

"Don't patronize me, Sirius." Maggie snapped, suddenly looking at him angrily. "Just because I am allowing you to protect me from what you saw at the Ministry tonight does not mean that I will let you treat me like some fragile, young child…"

"That's not what I am doing," he tried to explain, but she cut him off again.

"What is Harry's power?" she asked again quickly, "What power does he have that the Dark Lord doesn't know about?"

Sirius studied her carefully for a moment, allowing her the time and space she needed to digest all of this new information. Finally, he answered quietly, "Love."

"Love?"

"Dumbledore says that the distinguishing power Harry has is love." When Maggie looked at him as if she thought he was trying to protect her from something again, Sirius continued quickly, " Lily died to save Harry and that created a powerful magical protection over him. The night that James and Lily died, Hagrid took him to the Dursley's instead of a Wizarding family because, in order to remain safe, Harry needed to be near his mother's blood, which came in the form of her sister, Petunia."

"That wretched woman is the reason that Harry is still alive?" Maggie asked, shaking her head at the mere mention of Mrs. Dursley's name. "But she didn't love him. She treated him as if he were a second class part of that family…"

"But as long as Harry could still call the place where his mother's blood lived home, he was safe." Sirius informed her. He took both of her hands in his and as his fingers closed around hers, he was certain that she was no longer angry with him.

"So that is why Harry had to return to Privet Drive every summer?"

Sirius nodded and told her, "As long as Harry spends at least part of the year with his Aunt Petunia, he is shielded by her blood, which contains the power of his mother's sacrifice. Dumbledore once told Harry that his scar was infuriating to Voldemort because it represented total and unconditional love, something Voldemort was incapable of feeling. Now, his mother's love and blood live on, in the unlikely form of Aunt Petunia. So even though Lily is gone from Harry's life, she has left her son a priceless legacy, and it is easy to assume that this shield, like Harry's scar, angers Voldemort tremendously."

He watched the wheels turn over in Maggie's head and she finally looked up at him and asked quietly, "So Harry has to kill him? Lily's sacrifice will protect Harry, but he still has to kill Voldemort?"

Sirius shook his head and answered, "I don't know what happens next. To Harry or any of us. I just know that right now he feels so guilty about playing into Voldemort's hands…"

"Well, there's something the two of you have in common." Maggie cracked, suddenly breaking the tension that had filled the room.

Her dark haired lover simply stared at her for a moment as Maggie prepared herself for the inevitable snarky comment he would send her way in retaliation. But instead he reached out for her and said, "Then I guess we are both pretty lucky to have you in our lives."

She smiled tenderly and answered, "I think I'm the lucky one." 

They were inches apart and he could feel her breath on his face. It felt unbelievable to have her body pressed against his and he was quickly losing the ability to speak in coherent sentences. This was not the same woman who had collapsed on the floor of his room upon hearing of Harry's fate. This woman had woken from a nightmare and began to face the reality of the situation.

Maggie sighed and pulled him closer as she felt his tongue swipe against her lips. She moaned and her tongue met his and she moved against him, trying to find the exact angle of her head that would allow her the best access to his mouth. Her lips tasted like tears: salty and sweet all at the same time. The kiss was gentle at first but then crossed the line from comforting to something more when she felt Sirius' tongue slide over her lower lip. She deepened the kiss immediately, but still allowed it to remain sweet and somewhat questioning. 

They finally pulled apart at the same time, resting their foreheads together in total silence. After a minute Maggie pulled back and looked into Sirius' eyes. She saw adoration, longing and an unspoken question.

Coming back to her senses, Maggie whispered, "You should really get some sleep. You've had a big night and I don't think things are going to get any easier in the morning."

"You've got to be kidding me." he groaned as his lips found the sensitive skin of her throat and Maggie drew in deep, raspy breaths as he kissed his way up the side of her neck.

Maggie nodded her head as she smiled ever so slightly and sat up, putting some much needed distance between them.

"Are you leaving?" He asked suddenly, a hint of longing in his voice.

Smiling sweetly at him, she moved across the room to blow out the candle and then came back to the bed repeating the phrase he had used on her earlier, "Did you really think that you were going to get rid of me that easily?"

The physical and mental exhaustion that was way overdue suddenly seemed to catch up to Sirius as Maggie snuggled herself up against him and drifted off to sleep. He watched as she fidgeted in her sleep, a lock of hair falling across her face, her lips pursing thoughtfully. He wanted to memorize her every expression, to take in the sweep of her cheekbone and the fringe of her eyelashes, to mentally capture exactly the way her body felt pressed against his. To burn every aspect of her into his brain. His heart clenched in his chest as tears stung at his tired eyes.

Sirius had promised himself at the beginning, when the hell was just starting and all the illusions he'd clung to his entire life had been destroyed in one awful night, that he would not lose himself. He had vowed not to let his heart lead him anywhere again; it was too painful each time it broke and he had to put the pieces back together again and again.

But then he held her, and all of his promises faded into the distant memory.

He watched Maggie's chest rise and fall with each breath she took and ran his hand over her hair as she slept. Somehow, despite what still existed outside, despite all the uncertainty and instability and all the unanswered questions, he'd found hope.

He'd found it in her.


	22. By Your Side

**Chapter Twenty Two – By Your Side**

"You're up early."

Maggie turned away from the biscuit dough she was rolling out and smiled over at Harry as he entered the basement kitchen.

"My night was relatively calm compared to everyone else's around here," she explained in a falsely cheerful voice, "so I figured that I would make some breakfast while the warriors all get their much needed sleep. It's my part of the war effort." Dusting her floury hands on one of Molly's aprons, she looked at her former student skeptically and asked, "Now it's your turn…why you are up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep," Harry mumbled, reaching around her and grabbing one of the apples from a bowl on the counter.

"If you wait a few minutes, I'll cook you up some eggs and sausages." Maggie suggested, seeing that he hadn't yet been able to look her in the eye.

"This is fine," he told her, nodding at his apple. "I'll wait to have breakfast with the others."

"Okay," Maggie said simply, going back to rolling out her biscuit dough.

"What are you making?" Harry inquired, watching intently as she patted and rolled and shaped her biscuits.

"Biscuits and sausage gravy."

"Those don't look like biscuits," he informed her, looking at her soft pillows of dough with a raised eyebrow. "They're too doughy."

"Don't forget that I was raised in Louisiana, Harry," Maggie reminded him. "In the southern region of America, these are a breakfast staple. Wait until you try them smothered with my mama's homemade sausage gravy…you'll never want to eat one of those crackery things you Brits call biscuits ever again."

Harry gave her a half smile and the pair settled into silence again as he munched on his apple and Maggie busied herself with breakfast. They were the only two awake in Grimmauld Place and after about twenty minutes the silence began to drive the young teacher mad.

"I don't know how to do this, Harry." 

The dark haired young man looked up at her in confusion and asked, "Do what?"

"This," she repeated, looking at him seriously, "I don't know how to help. Or at least how to make things less awkward this morning." Frustration crept into her voice as she continued, "I've never been involved in anything like this before, so I don't know how to handle the 'morning after the battle' awkwardness…"

"You don't have to do anything…" Harry tried to tell her, but she kept talking as if she hadn't heard a word he said.

"…but I _am _the daughter of a firefighter. And when my dad would come home from a particularly bad fire scene, my brothers and sisters and I would just prattle on about nonsense things to try and take his mind off things until he was ready to talk about it. And somedays he was never ready to talk about it, so…"

"What kinds of things?"

His voice made its way through her ramblings and Maggie finally stopped to take a breath as she looked at him comically and asked, "What?"

A slight chuckle escaped Harry's lips as he repeated, "What kinds of things would you talk about to take your dad's mind off the fires?"

"Oh," Maggie said, quickly realizing that he was going to take her up on her silly offer. "Well, we would talk about sports mainly…football, baseball, basketball. Sometimes hockey, but not often." She looked over at Harry knowingly and informed him, "I know that you play a game called Quidditch at Hogwarts. Tonks tried to explain it to me and I have to admit that I was only half listening to her, but it sounds like soccer…which I played in high school." She paused and looked thoughtful for a moment before she continued, "But people here in England don't call it soccer, do they? You call it football…which was very confusing to me when I first moved here because the game that I called football as I was growing up was not what my British friends were referring to and so I ended up sounding like a fool in many of my early conversations in the pubs and…"

Maggie would have kept right on talking had she not been interrupted by the glorious sound of Harry's laughter. She stopped in the midst of her nonsense and looked over at her former student to find him laughing…full, whole hearted, real laughter….at her. She grinned at him as she asked, "What?"

"You are pretty good at that," he informed her, "That rambling along and taking my mind off of other things."

"I've had many years of practice."

"Well, if you really want to take my mind off things…we can't talk about Quidditch," he informed her, standing up to throw away his apple core. "Because I would be doing all of the talking and I don't think I am ready for that. But," he raised his eyebrow at her again as he reached into the cooler for some pumpkin juice and said slyly, "we could talk about you and my godfather."

Maggie, who was placing her perfectly formed biscuits onto baking trays, froze for an instant, pursed her lips, and then asked him nonchalantly, "What about us?"

"See, you're not good at that." Harry told her with a smirk as he poured himself some juice and went back to sit at the table. "You should stick with things you are good at."

"What am I not good at?"

"Lying," he told her simply, sipping his juice. "Dodging the subject. That kind of stuff. Your cheeks turn pink and your hands get a bit shaky. So, why don't you tell me the truth about what's going on with you and Sirius?"

"We're friends." Maggie told him, turning away from him to put her tray of biscuits on the fire to bake.

"We just established that you're a bad liar, remember?" he reminded her, "Even when you turn away and try to hide your face from me, your tone of voice gives you away. And even if I couldn't tell you were lying from your face or your voice, I would know because I saw with my own two eyes how you threw yourself at him last night."

"I did not throw myself at him!" she sputtered, spinning around quickly and noticing that his smirk has grown into a full fledged grin as he teased her. Taking a deep breath, Maggie told him calmly, "I was glad to see that he was alive."

"Neville and Luna came back alive and you didn't throw yourself into their arms."

"Because until last night, I didn't know that Neville and Luna existed." Maggie shot back at him, feeling her face turning red.

"Okay," Harry conceded and then added, "But you know Mr. Weasley and Bill and you didn't welcome them home so heartily…"

"Because they had family to do that." She interrupted, shaking her head at him in exasperation. She didn't like this 'morning after' conversation business. Especially when Sirius was still sleeping soundly in his bed and didn't have to face the firing squad with her. "Sirius didn't have any family here to hug him, so I filled in. I hugged you when you came in too, remember?"

"And I would buy that excuse," he informed her haughtily, trying his best to conceal his smile, "had I not found you upstairs in Sirius' bed this morning."

"What?!?"

Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing at her completely shocked reaction as he explained, "I told you that I couldn't sleep and was up early this morning. So, I went up to see if Sirius was having trouble sleeping and saw that he was indeed sleeping like a baby…in your arms."

Maggie crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Harry as she told him, "You know, normally I wouldn't let a sixteen-year-old former student of mine speak to me this way. But since you had a rough night, I'm going to let it slide this time."

"Thanks," Harry quipped smugly, smiling at her. "That's very kind of you."

"If fighting Death Eaters is going to make you this cocky, Harry Potter, I don't think I'm going to let you go into battle anymore." Maggie shot back, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. Despite her dislike of the subject matter, she was secretly thrilled that he was able to tease her after all that he had been through. Her mother always said that if you can find something to laugh about in the darkest of times, maybe things aren't as bad as they seemed.

"Well considering that you haven't been my teacher in over six years and don't have the power to put me in detention anymore," he added with a smirk, "will you please answer my question now?"

"Which question was that?"

"What is going on between you and Sirius?" He repeated, lifting his glass of pumpkin juice to his lips. After swallowing his sip, he added, "Am I supposed to call you 'god-mommy' from now on?"

Maggie shook her head at his smug tone and began gathering eggs from the pantry as she muttered, "I so don't want to have this conversation with you."

"I know." he shot back with a grin, pasting an innocent look on his face as he added, "But it takes me off the hot seat and makes me feel better after everything that happened last night."

"In about 24 hours that excuse isn't going to work for you anymore." she informed him as she began to crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl.

"Yes, but it will now."

Letting out a deep breath and avoiding his eyes, Maggie simply said, "Your godfather and I have spent a lot of time together recently…mainly because neither of us could leave this house. And while we were spending time together, we realized that we had more in common than either of us could have initially imagined. And things just…." Maggie fumbled for her words until she finally finished lamely, "…progressed from there."

"I saw."

"Harry…"

Harry didn't miss the warning tone in Maggie's voice. He remembered it well from when he was in 5th grade and she was not happy with whatever was going on with the lesson or in the classroom. So, in a sudden shift, he told her seriously, "Good."

Knitting her eyebrows together and looking at him in surprise, she asked, "What?"

"I'm glad that things are…progressing…between you and Sirius." He told her, looking up to meet her blue eyes. "I think you are good for him. And he hasn't had a lot of good things in his life lately. You can change that for him."

"Harry," Maggie said gently, putting down her broken egg shells and moving over to the table, "I'm not trying to change anyone's life…"

"But you do it anyway." Harry interrupted, looking at her earnestly. "You don't have to try…you just do. You changed mine. You made it better. And now you're changing Sirius'. And I want to thank you for that…for both me and my godfather."

"Harry…" she tried again, but he cut her off.

"I don't know if I ever thanked you for what you did for me in Little Whinging." he continued, a far away look coming into his eyes. "You made things better. You made me realize that not all people are like my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and Dudley….some people care even when they have no reason to. It helped me go on. It helped me be loved by the people who have come into my life since then." Covering her hand with his, he added softly, "You changed my life, Miss Thompson. I just wanted to tell you that. I wanted to make sure you knew in case…"

Harry's voice trailed off but there was no doubt in Maggie's mind about how he had intended to finish that sentence.

…_in case I don't survive._

Though she tried her best to keep it from happening, her eyes filled with tears and she hastily brushed them away with her free hand as she said, "Well, just for the record, you changed my life too, Harry Potter."

As a rogue tear escaped her eyelid and rolled down her cheek, Maggie added, "You are going to be okay, Harry. I know you are. Because there isn't a soul in this house that wouldn't give everything they have…even their lives…to protect you."

Harry gently reached up to wipe the tear that had escaped off her cheek and said quietly, "He told you, didn't he? Sirius told you about the prophecy."

Maggie nodded and she closed her eyes briefly as Harry said, "I'm glad. I'm glad that he trusted you enough to tell you. I'm glad that he has you to talk to and to trust in. He tries to hide it, but he gets really lonely sometimes and he needs…"

"Harry," she interrupted, but he shook his head.

"Don't," he told her softly, "I'm not ready to talk about anything else yet, okay? Can we just talk about you and Sirius right now? Please. Because…" his voice faltered and he finished with, "I'm just not ready yet."

The seriousness of his plea practically knocked Maggie backwards, but she smiled bravely at him and obeyed his wishes…even though every ounce of who she was wanted to talk to him about what was to come. Standing up and giving his hand one last squeeze, she agreed quietly, "Okay, we won't talk about it. Not today." Letting out a forced laugh, she added, "But go easy on the Sirius stuff, okay? Like I said earlier, I'm new at this 'morning after the battle' avoidance stuff."

He smiled wistfully up at her and said quietly, "Ginny saw it first."

"Saw what?"

"You and Sirius." Harry told her, looking back down at his empty glass of pumpkin juice. As Maggie moved across the kitchen to get the pitcher and refill his glass, he continued, "She told me the night we went back to Hogwarts that she saw your colors."

"Our colors?" The blond asked, pouring a glass of juice for herself as well.

"She says she sees colors around people," he explained with a shrug. "Like their aura or something. But she told me that she saw a burning passionate red that night that you arrived and Sirius was so mean and out of sorts. She said it was so definite that it almost hurt. Ginny said that your other colors were vivid, too."

"Really?" Maggie asked, completely intrigued as she sat down at the table across from Harry.

"Sometimes it was an angry orange when you read _The Daily Prophet_ or listened to Mrs. Black's portrait screaming obscenities about half-breeds and blood traitors. And it was a gentle midnight shade of blue when you sat and drank tea by herself as you thought about your parents and brothers and sisters when you thought no one was watching. And whenever you were near Sirius, your color became a perfect match to his color."

Maggie chuckled as she thought about his words as Harry said, "And that night you came to Hogwarts, she told me to watch the two of you. And I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"Your feelings were there, present at all times, around your faces, and in the lines around your mouth. You love each other…"

"Harry…"

But Harry wouldn't listen to her protests as he kept on, "You love each other like my father loved my mother and she loved him back, like Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley love each other and their family, like Ron so obviously loves Hermione." He smiled again as he added, "You love each other like Ginny loves life, like Tonks loves Remus, and like the Weasley twins love creating mischief. And everyone can see it, even though you can't."

Maggie didn't even try to interrupt him this time, so she simply looked down into her pumpkin juice as he continued, "You can't see it, not from each other. Probably because you're too bloody blind and too bloody foolish to think that either could ever love the other. Or because you're too bloody proud to admit that you love each other. But you don't have to. Because Ginny and I have known all along."

Instead of arguing with him, she finally said quietly, "Sometimes love isn't enough, Harry."

"Yeah, it is." He disagreed, shaking his head and staring intently at her. "After learning what I learned last night, you realize that sometimes it's everything."

Maggie looked at her former student for what seemed like an eternity and then finally whispered, "Well, Mr. Potter, it looks like the student just taught the teacher a thing or two this time."

Getting up from the table, Maggie thought to herself about Molly's words the previous evening about people marrying quickly during the first war because they didn't want to waste precious minutes. But, Harry was just a boy…

_Not after last night._

Sirius' words played over again in her head as she went back to cracking eggs. Two people in the course of 24 hours had mentioned that Maggie and Sirius were in love…Molly and now Harry. But if they were in love, wouldn't she be the first one to know it? I mean…

"Hey, Maggie," Harry suddenly asked listlessly, tracing scratches in the battered table in front of him with one finger.

"Yes?" she asked curiously, cracking another egg.

"You're a girl."

The uncertain tone in his voice caused Maggie to laugh out loud as she answered, "Thank you for noticing."

"Well, it's just that..." Harry said awkwardly. "How do you know if a... if a girllikesyou?" His face reddening, he looked down at the table again.

Maggie studied him for a moment, hands poised over her bowl of eggs. Finally, she smiled and reassured him, "She does."

"What?"

"She does." Maggie repeated, choosing a whisk to begin beating her eggs. "I'm sure of it."

"Could I ask you something?" he asked after another minute, swallowing with difficulty.

Biting her lip to keep from smiling at what she sensed was coming next, she answered evenly, "Of course."

"Well since you are in love with my godfather and you like to give me advice like a mother…" Harry said, shifting nervously in his seat and then shrugging apologetically. "It's a bit – well – it's a personal question."

Maggie looked back over at him, regarding him evenly, a smile just tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Those are my favorite kind," she said, and for a second, Harry stared intently at the cuffs of his shirt, picking at the seam, and Maggie thought, perhaps, that he had changed his mind.

"I was wondering about…" he began, his eyes flickering between the table top and Maggie's gaze. He stopped and then started again, blushing a bright pink as he took a deep breath and finally asked quickly, "If you were Ginny and I asked you out, would you say yes?"

Maggie grinned cheekily and promptly replied, "If I was _me_ and you asked me out I'd probably say yes," she said, gesturing at him with her whisk. "You're a fine looking fella."

Harry blushed, again and took a long sip of his pumpkin juice. Knowing that it was her turn again, Maggie chuckled and asked, "Seriously, Harry, what have you got to lose?"

"Well there's my dignity –"

"Overrated," Maggie answered, fixing her young friend with an amused, yet steely, grin.

"Pride?"

"Pfft."

"Self-respect?" Harry offered, his brow creasing in thought.

"Will you really have more self-respect if you _don't_ do it?"

"Ron?" 

"Ron?" Maggie repeated, not ready for that one.

"I could lose Ron."

"How do you figure that?"

"He's her brother…"

"So are Fred and George, and Charlie and Bill and some git named Percy." Maggie pointed out.

"But Ron is a little…"

"Over protective?"

"That's putting it mildly." Harry muttered, getting up to check on the biscuits that were responsible for the delicious aroma filling the kitchen.

"I know a thing about over-protective brothers," Maggie reminded him, "And all they really want is for their little sister to be happy. And to be with a good guy. You're a good guy, Harry. And I'm pretty sure you will make her happy."

Harry considered it for a moment, and then sighed, taking another sip of his pumpkin juice. "She might say no," he finally said. "She might just like being friends."

"She might say yes," Maggie retorted. "She might like being friends so much that she'd really like to be more."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, and then, apparently, couldn't think of anything, and closed it again. Maggie, smiling at him reassuringly, said, "The thing about stuff like this…love and stuff…is that it's only when you have to fight for it that you know it's really worth having. And yes, saying you like someone as more than a friend is scary – scary as hell – scarier than any Death Eater you'll ever meet or any curse they might throw at you – but that's why it's worth it. It wouldn't be half as great to have if it was easy to get."

"Which one of us are you talking about?" Harry asked, smiling smugly at her.

"Touche," Maggie told him, rolling her eyes.

"Is it weird for me to be thinking about dating Ginny when Mad-Eye is dead and the weight of the wizarding world has just been set on my shoulders?"

"No," Maggie told him gently, softening her expression as she looked at him. "It's not weird at all…"

"Because we are living at a time when the stakes are really high and we could all be living on borrowed time."

Maggie and Harry both turned around in surprise to see Sirius amble down the stairs and into the kitchen. Picking up Harry's glass of pumpkin juice, he continued, "The things that we thought were important or weird before…aren't anymore."

Sirius paused for a moment, and met Harry's eye, wondering why it was easy to say this to his sixteen-year-old godson, when it had been so hard to explain to himself.

"Think about what it would have been like if that killing curse had hit you – or some other good hex had finished you off." Sirius continued, purposefully avoiding Maggie's gaze. "How do you think Ginny would feel, never knowing how you really felt or what she meant to you? And in the face of that, well, all the other things you've been concerned about will crumble at your feet."

Maggie and Harry both stared at him with their mouths gaping and Sirius suddenly asked, "We are talking about Ginny, aren't we?"

Harry smiled at his godfather's amused expression and said, "Yes. But we could be talking about you…"

"Who's talking about Ginny?"

The redhead herself appeared in the kitchen doorway with a curious look on her face as Harry once again turned beat red and suddenly became very interested in his pumpkin juice.

"I was talking about Ginny," Sirius interjected quickly, winking at Harry over the girl's head. "I was just telling Maggie how bravely you fought last night and how you brought down the Hall of Prophesies with a flick of your wand." Grinning down at the youngest Weasley, he added proudly, "It seems that people will have more to talk about from now on than just your bat-bogey hex."

Ginny blushed about as red as Harry, muttered her thanks, stole a quick look at Harry to see if he had heard the compliment, and then moved over to the counter to see if she could help Maggie with the breakfast.

As the rest of the Weasley clan and the members of the Order followed the delicious smells of biscuits, sausage, and gravy down to the kitchen for breakfast, Maggie suddenly found herself surrounded by her new weary and uncharacteristically quiet family. Plates were passed, silverware clinked, and the fire crackled as grief settled over the basement of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

And as Maggie and Sirius kept a close watch over a steadfast Harry, they silently came to understand the way that war makes people need other people to be by their side.


	23. Do As He Says and Not As He Does

**200 Reviews?!?!?!?!?!**

You guys and girls are the best!! That is amazing! I am honored.

**AJ Ray** - Would you believe that I almost ended the chapter very close to what you suggested? In my original draft, I was going to have Sirius come into the kitchen and surprise Maggie and Harry with a proposal for Maggie! But I changed my outline at the last minute and decided to go in this direction instead! I hope you are not disappointed...

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**Chapter Twenty-Three - Do As He Says, Not As He Does**

_Hours Later…_

"Those were some pretty words, Padfoot. Did you mean them?"

Sirius turned away from the fire in the drawing room and watched as Remus ambled quietly over to the couch and set his weary body down on the soft cushions.

"You're back." Sirius replied lamely, watching his old friend stare into the fire.

"For a few hours now," Remus informed him, running his hand through his thinning hair. "Not that I'd expect you to notice...since you have been locked away in here all day." Looking back up into Sirius' gray eyes, he asked again, "So, did you mean those pretty words?"

"Which words?"

"The ones you said to Harry this morning. About Ginny." The werewolf smiled tiredly and added, "Or Maggie."

"You heard that?"

"I was following my nose down to the kitchen for breakfast when I heard your voice." Remus told him before asking again, "Did you mean them?"

Turning away from his old friend and his lingering question, Sirius gripped his glass of firewhiskey tighter and instead asked, "How is Tonks?"

"Tonks is fine." Remus replied with a smirk. "Don't change the subject."

"I'm not changing the subject." Sirius replied abruptly, still staring at the fire. "I am simply inquiring as to the well being of the fair Nymphadora."

"I know you love Maggie."

Remus' words were whispered in such a soft voice that Sirius could pretend that he didn't hear them if he wanted to. But there was no use. Remus had known him for too long. So, in his own defense, Sirius turned and shot back, "Well, I know that you love my young, purple haired cousin so…"

"I asked Tonks to marry me." Remus interrupted quietly, studying his friend's face closely for the inevitable reaction.

And Sirius didn't disappoint. He stopped in mid-sentence and nearly dropped his drink as he asked, "What? When?"

"This morning." Lupin informed him. "In the hospital wing."

"And what did she say?"

"She refused."

Sirius didn't know whether to laugh or cry at Tonks' unexpected reaction, so he simply asked, "Really?"

Smiling smugly, Remus answered, "She wants me to ask her again...properly. When she is not flat on her back in a hospital ward and groggy from healing spells. In a garden, I believe, surrounded by twinkling fairy lights and soft music."

"And will you?"

"Will I what?"

"Ask her again?"

"Yes." Remus told him with a satisfied smile. "And then I will marry her as soon as possible."

"Congratulations." Sirius said, raising his glass in an impromptu toast. "What prompted this change of heart?"

The smile disappeared from Lupin's face as he reminded Sirius, "I almost lost her last night."

Sirius looked appropriately humbled as he nodded and then said, "You have always been too romantic for your own good. I'm glad that it has finally served you well."

"Actually, I'm not nearly romantic enough," Remus replied, "It took almost losing the one thing I wanted more than anything to admit that I actually wanted it. I came dangerously close to missing my chance. Are you going to do the same with Maggie?"

A sour look crossed Padfoot's face as he chided, "I thought we were talking about you and Tonks."

"We were." Lupin replied calmly, biting back his smile. Raising his eyebrow, he then asked, "But our love stories have certain parallels to them, don't you think?"

"No." Sirius replied sharply, moving over to refill his own glass of firewhiskey and to pour one for his friend.

"Think again." Remus ordered softly, reaching out to accept the glass that Sirius offered.

"Moony…"

"Sirius, Maggie is…"

"Not an Auror!" Sirius erupted, turning to face his friend so quickly that some of his firewhiskey sloshed out of his glass and onto his foot. "She is a teacher, Remus…a Muggle. Trapped in this world because of my neverending stupidity and recklessness. She didn't choose this destiny, as Tonks did. Maggie doesn't understand what is truly at stake here or even how high the stakes truly are. She is not a warrior…"

"You don't have to be a dark wizard catcher to be a warrior, Sirius." Remus reminded his friend gently. "Maggie is a warrior in ways that have nothing to do with flying spells or duels with wands. And I believe that your words to Harry this morning had something to do with the stakes being high and all of us living on borrowed time. Is that only true for Harry and Ginny and me and Tonks?"

"Things with Maggie are different…"

"It's only when the stakes are high that there's a big prize on offer." Remus interrupted with a nod of his head. "You do love her, don't you?"

"That's not the point…"

"Actually," Remus interrupted again, knowing that it annoyed Sirius to no end when he did, "it is the ONLY point. And the fact that she is a defenseless Muggle didn't stop you from taking her into your bed…"

Sirius practically snarled in response to Remus' words and the werewolf was actually afraid that his old friend was going to attack him, so he added quickly, "What I mean is that I have seen the way you look at her when you think no one else is watching…over an evening meal, across a crowded room. I haven't seen you so content since your escape from Azkaban."

Something in Sirius seemed to snap and he started speaking quickly, almost fiercely, as he stated, "If I started a real relationship with her, if I stayed with her, I might as well just paint a giant target on her forehead! I am no longer a wanted man by the Ministry, but I am still one of the few things that stands between The Dark Lord and Harry. Voldemort will do anything he can to get me out of the way so that he has a clear path to my godson. Do you think I haven't thought about this? Do you think I haven't lain awake nights thinking about it while Maggie slept peacefully beside me?! Do you think that this is easy for me?! Merlin's ghost, Moony, I'm in love with her! But I can't do it! I can't put her in danger. It would kill me if anything happened to her, and if anyone found out how much I love her, that the easiest way to destroy me, and Harry in the process, would be to do something to her…" He paused, shuddering at the bare idea. "I can't put her in danger," he repeated. "I can't!"

He turned back to face the fire, the raw emotions he was feeling frightening him. To calm his nerves, Sirius downed the rest of his firewhiskey in one long gulp and then threw the glass into the fire. It shattered with an alarming sound and as he watched the pieces burn slowly in the flames, the Marauder continued quietly, "I couldn't save James and Lily. I couldn't prevent what happened to Mad-Eye. I can't stop Harry from charging forward into his fate. But I'll be damned if I let something happen to Maggie when I can prevent it simply by denying myself the pleasure of her company or her kisses or her…"

Sirius' voice trailed off as he slammed his open palm into the stone mantle and then rested his forehead against the cool marble. After a few moments, he began again, "Things with Maggie will end tonight. It was selfish of me to allow them to get this far." Barking out a humorless laugh, he added, "But it is completely in keeping with my character to have made these mistakes. I never have stopped to consider the consequences of my actions on the people around me, so why should Maggie have been any different?" He finally turned back around to face Remus, who looked up at him with sad eyes, and added, "But I got caught up in her laughter and the idea that we could shut out the world for just a little while. I actually thought for a few brief moments that I could let myself love her the way I want to. But I can't." Sirius moved over and threw himself into an armchair, the anger and frustration seeming to have dissipated. "I can't let myself love her," he finally said, his voice low and bleak.

"But you already do love her." Remus reminded his friend gently. "And throwing away the chance for a love like that is, to put it simply, stupid. Sirius, true love like what you feel for Maggie…the kind of love that is willing to put the welfare of their loved one above their own happiness…is a gift from the Fates. Especially after all you went through that night in Godric's Hollow and the years that followed in Azkaban. To throw that away because of an admittedly vague fear is the act of a coward."

Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but the gentle werewolf cut him off, not allowing him to. "Sirius, I know you aren't a coward, so listen to me…."

"Remus?"

Both Remus and Sirius snapped their heads around when they heard that familiar voice calling to them from the doorway. Maggie had silently slipped into the drawing room and her beautiful face was expressionless as she avoided Sirius' eyes and glanced expectantly at Lupin.

"Molly is packing up some things to take to Tonks at St. Mungo's." Maggie told him, her voice barely a whisper. "She wanted me to come and ask you if you will be going back to see her tonight, but if you two are busy…"

"Maggie…" Sirius whispered, but she still refused to look at him.

Sensing the sudden tension in the room, Remus quickly said, "I am going over to St. Mungo's in a bit, so I should probably go find Molly. Is she in the kitchen?"

Maggie nodded as Remus made a quick and sudden exit. Finally glancing up at Sirius, their eyes met briefly before she turned and bolted for the door as quickly as Remus had only seconds before. But Sirius' voice stopped her.

"Maggie…wait."

Maggie paused at the door of the drawing room and smiled a wry, humorless smile as she turned back to face him and said, "You know, the last time you said that to me in this room…"

"It led to one of the best nights of my entire life," he finished for her, "Yes, I remember. I will always remember."

"So, I'm guessing that things aren't going to end that way between us tonight?"

"How much did you hear of my conversation with Remus?" he asked her, practically wincing at the anger in her voice.

"More than I wanted to."

"How much?"

Shutting the door and turning to face him fully, Maggie squared her shoulders and said, "I heard that you love me, but you are too damned noble to tell me. I heard that you think loving me will mean that I will be put in even more danger. And I heard that my fate has been added to the long list of things that you feel guilty about…"

"Maggie," Sirius sighed, watching her carefully as his heart broke a little more with each word that she spoke, "I didn't want it to be like this. I was going to talk to you later…"

"In bed?" she snapped, "Just so that you could have me one last time and then tell me it's over?"

"I would never…"

"And just for the record," Maggie interrupted again, her voice catching as if she were on the verge of tears, "I am stronger than I look. I can handle much more than you are giving me credit for. I can handle loving and being loved by you."

"But I can't." Sirius told her softly.

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Maggie closed her eyes…to him, to the pain he was causing her…and a single tear escaped onto her cheek. Sirius resisted the urge to reach out and wipe it away, for he knew that if he touched her in that moment all of his resolve would melt away.

"I can't put you through that, Maggie." he said instead, turning away from her beautiful face. "I'd rather hurt both of us now than have any harm come to you because of your association with me."

Maggie was shaking her head slowly at his reasoning. "Sirius, listen to me. You're not thinking straight. You're…"

"Don't fight me on this one, Maggie." Sirius begged more than asked and then whispered defeatedly, "Just trust me that this is best."

"And I don't get a say in this?" she asked. She took a step nearer, her hands reflexively reaching for him. She caught herself at the last moment, instead needlessly brushing her hair off her face. Sirius eyed her warily, as if she were an angry serpent poised to strike. "I'm just supposed to sit quietly in this house while you and everyone else race off to save Harry and the fate of the Wizarding World?"

"Yes," he answered stiffly, surprising her with his honest answer. Maggie's mouth dropped open. Her eyes stung and flitted away from his face. She could guess the reasons for his harsh tone of voice, but it did little to take away the sting of his words. When he spoke again, his voice was completely and utterly serious and sincere, all trace of his usual mirth gone. "I've never really been in love before, Maggie…never found the girl who could complete me that way. And then one night, you came into my life and I knew things would never be the same." He smiled wistfully as he told her, "I always envied what James and Lily had, you know, that complete trust and love. And you may think that I am being the world's biggest prat and coward right now, but I swear to you that I don't know what would become of me if anyone ever harmed you." Turning back to look at her, he continued, "You are an Empath, but beyond that you are still as powerless in this world and in this war as you were the night you arrived. James, Lily, Moody…they were all accomplished wizards and they died anyway. Because when you get in the Dark Lord's way, there is nothing to protect you. I have to keep that from happening to you."

"Because you couldn't stop it from happening to them?" Maggie asked quietly, moving slightly towards him. "And you can't protect Harry anymore?"

"I know I sound like some sort of broken record, but…" His voice trailed off as he looked at her again and then said quietly, "I don't know any other way to assure your safety."

"You should know better than anyone, Sirius," she told him gently, "that there is no way to assure my safety. Sure, there is danger, but I think that what we have is worth the danger a hundred times over." When he turned away from her again, Maggie closed her eyes briefly and said in a stronger voice, "But you're right…I haven't been where you have been in your life. I haven't seen the horrible things that you have seen. I didn't spend twelve years of my life in a place that didn't allow me to feel. And I know you well enough to know that I can't change your mind when you feel so passionately about it. So, go ahead and consider things over between us."

She moved back over to the door, preparing to slip out of the room as quietly as she had entered it. She felt something inside her break at that moment. It wasn't her heart, or her mind and sanity. She felt herself literally break. At that moment, that turning point in her life, she felt her whole being fall apart.

She turned back at the last moment and looked at Sirius There were still traces of tears on her face and his heart clenched at the sight. _He_ had done that. He was the reason for her tears.

"In case you were wondering," Maggie whispered, "I love you, too."

And then she was gone.


	24. To Have and To Hold

**Chapter Twenty-Four - To Have and To Hold**

_Two weeks later…_

It was a beautiful day for a wedding.

The sun was shining. The birds were singing. Thousands of autumn leaves blanketed the ground. Twenty-five purple chairs sat in a circle in the yard of the Burrow. Two wands waited on a table.

Everything was perfect.

Everything…except for the fact that Sirius Black and Maggie Thompson hadn't spoken to each other since the fateful encounter in the drawing room that ended their brief romance.

There wasn't a person staying in Grimmauld Place who hadn't felt the tension between the pair, but no one seemed brave enough to actually bring it up in conversation. So Maggie had spent the time helping the blushing bride prepare for her wedding day and Sirius had spent his days locked up in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts with Harry and the Headmaster as they came up with ways to protect Remus and Tonks' wedding guests from Death Eaters.

The day of the nuptials shone bright and cheerful and Nymphadora Tonks looked absolutely stunning in her bright pink dress robes, made especially for the occasion by a doting Molly Weasley. Dressed in one of Molly's robes and masquerading as 'an old family friend', Maggie smiled from underneath the brim of her large, floppy hat as her new friends Remus and Nymphadora pledged their undying love to one another before a handful of friends, family, and Order members.

She allowed her eyes to stray towards the proud, dark haired best man only once during the ceremony and refused to give a second thought as to how handsome he looked in his dress robes. But Maggie's resolve was only so strong and she could not keep herself from wandering into the Weasley's kitchen when she saw Molly send Sirius inside to fetch some more snack bites for the wedding guests.

Sirius felt her presence in the small room before he actually saw her. He would have told her to go away, but he knew she wouldn't have listened anyway.

Instead, they stood in uncomfortable silence, staring out the kitchen window at the cheerful wedding party, until Maggie reached out and took his hand.

Looking up at his Magnolia, Sirius saw in her eyes the truth he'd known all along – she loved him and would stay by him no matter what happened. He gently squeezed her hand in thanks – it was the most precious gift she could give him.

He wished he could return it.

Sirius turned away, wincing at the pain in his chest as he broke the fragile strands of contact between them. He didn't know how much longer he could do this. Just seeing her look at him that way was enough to drive him mad. He needed her like he needed air, but he couldn't have her. He just couldn't.

He didn't know how to fix this – he didn't know how to change their circumstances. Sirius Black didn't know how to be with her and protect her at the same time. Maybe because it wasn't possible.

"It was a beautiful ceremony." Maggie said quietly, aimlessly playing with one of Molly's dish towels laying on the counter and dragging Sirius away from his private, torturous thoughts. "I don't think I've ever seen Remus look so happy."

"I have," Sirius replied, grinning awkwardly at her and trying desperately to lighten the mood, "but he didn't know I was watching at the time."

Maggie felt herself blush as a giggle escaped her lips and she shook her head at his teasing. Glancing back up at him, she whispered, "I've missed you."

"I've missed us." he whispered back, staring into her eyes as if looking into them for the first time. Reaching up to remove her hat, he watched her blond locks tumble down her shoulders as he breathed, "You look beautiful today. Didn't anyone ever tell you that the bride is supposed to be the only beautiful woman at her own wedding?"

She smiled at his compliment and responded, "Tonks has me beat by a mile today in the beauty department. She's got something going for her that I don't…she is truly happy."

Sirius caught her eye and, for a brief moment, let her see everything in his heart.

_I'm sorry. Forgive me. I love you._

All the things he didn't dare to say out loud, for if he allowed himself even one tiny moment of vulnerability, he would crumble.

And then Sirius quickly picked up the tray of food he had come in for and walked past her out of the kitchen without a second glance.

"That was kind of brutal."

Maggie turned around to see Harry and Ginny sitting together in the living room on the couch that faced the kitchen. They were watching her closely.

"I've been through worse," Maggie lied, trying to sound nonchalant and pasting on a brave face as she faced her young friends. "I didn't know that the two of you were in here. Why didn't you say anything when we came inside…"

Her voice trailed off as she suddenly realized that Harry and Ginny were sitting very close to one another and Harry's normally unkempt hair was much messier than usual. And before her former student ducked his head to wipe his mouth, Maggie was sure that she spied him wearing some of Ginny's pink lipstick.

"Oh," Maggie blurted out, a wide smile breaking out across her face, "I'm sorry to interrupt…"

"You didn't interrupt anything." Harry said quickly as Ginny bit her lip to hide her smile at his embarrassment. "Gin and I were just…talking."

"Must have been one heck of a conversation." The young teacher observed, grinning at him.

"Yeah," he muttered, looking down at the floor as he jumped off the couch. "I should go and see if Sirius is alright. Or if Ron needs me to…do something. Outside."

Only after he was out of earshot did Maggie and Ginny allow themselves to dissolve into a fit of giggles. As Maggie recovered, she collapsed on the couch next to Ginny and said, "It's getting a little wild out there." She gestured with her head towards the yard. "Your brothers spiked every punch bowl, and Hagrid and Mr. Tonks are doing their own version of "The Chicken Dance"or something. I could use a break from it myself. You don't mind keeping me company for a few minutes, do you?"

When Ginny grinned and nodded, she continued slyly, "So I guess that Remus and Tonks aren't the only happy couple here today."

The redhead beamed and confessed, "I didn't think I could be this happy. Harry came down to the kitchen the night after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and we talked for hours. Then, when he left…he kissed me! It was like it was the most natural thing in the world. We've been inseperable ever since."

"Good," Maggie told her sincerely, "I think the two of you are good for each other."

Ginny paused for a moment before she said, "I'm sorry about you and Sirius…I thought the two of you were good for each other, too."

"Yeah, well, I've been dumped before," Maggie said with a shrug, trying to sound nonchalant, "so this isn't really pain that I'm feeling…it's nostalgia."

There was another long pause on the teenager's end before she finally let out a snort and informed Maggie, "That's kind of pathetic."

Maggie's shoulders shook with laughter as she agreed, "Yes, it is."

Laying her head on Ginny's shoulder, she added, "Do you know the most surprising thing about being dumped? It doesn't actually kill you. I mean, like a bullet to the heart or a head on car wreck…it should. When someone you love tells you that there are more important things out there than how the two of you feel about each other, that should kill you instantly." Maggie drew in a deep breath and let it out again slowly as she continued, "You shouldn't have to wake up every day after that trying to understand how in the world you could have been so stupid as to not see it coming. The light just never went on, you know? I must have known, of course, but I was too scared to see the truth. Then fear just makes you so stupid."

"You're not stupid." Ginny told her reassuringly.

"Thank you," Maggie said with a smile. "I agree. But what is it about love that makes us _act_ so stupid? I mean, I am a smart woman and I literally just got the shit beat out of me by love."

"Live and learn, that's what my mum always says." Ginny told her thoughtfully, tilting her head to rest it on Maggie's. "And I hate to admit that I think she is right about this one. I think your heart grows back bigger once you get the shit beat out of you. And the universe lets your heart expand that way, cause that has to be the function of all this pain and heartache that we go through. Maybe we just have to go through it all to come out to a better place."

It was Maggie's turn to be quiet for a few moments before she said, "You are pretty enlightened for a teenager, you know that?"

Ginny giggled and replied, "Well, you are one of the few people that actually listens to me. In a world where I will never be a boy and am not half as smart as Hermione, I often get overlooked. I mean, I can duel circles around Ron and the twins but they didn't even want me to go to the Department of Mysteries that night. And I was in love with Harry for five years before he finally noticed me."

"But he did notice you." Maggie countered.

"Sirius will wise up." Ginny assured her quietly. "He loves you. Everyone can see that."

"Loving me is not the problem." The blond teacher confessed quietly. "He's got it into his head that I would be much better off without him. That he is unsafe, that the Dark Lord will try to use me to get to him and Harry. I tried at first to tell him how utterly ridiculous he was being, and I thought I'd eventually wear him down. But finally, though, I just gave up…he's been through so much. It's as if he feels that punishing himself is the only thing he knows to do to make it better….as if by hurting, he's doing the right thing. He's lost so much and he's determined not to lose anyone else…even if it means giving up on us."

"Well, you can't give up." Ginny told her, lifting her head and shifting so that she could look Maggie in the eyes. "You have to hold on to the hope for both of you. If this war has taught us anything, it is that the world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are however, and therein lies the promise. Don't let the world win, Maggie."

Both of them sat quietly again, and Ginny unexpectedly slid her hand on top of Maggie's. It felt familiar, as if it were Maggie's own – short nails and calloused fingers – and the gesture was immediately calming.

"But the thing is, Ginny," Maggie said softly into the growing darkness of the Weasley living room, "sometimes doing the right thing and the easy thing is the _same_ thing, and people assume the right decision always has to be the one that hurts us, when – if they'd just listen to their hearts – they'd see how wrong they are. Sirius has to figure that out on his own and I just have to wait for him to come around, I guess."

Before Ginny could respond, the two young women heard screams coming from outside the Burrow. Springing up from the couch, Maggie and Ginny ran to the window to see wedding guests disapparating all over the yard while Molly hurried toward the house.

"Mum?" Ginny asked frantically as they met Molly at the door, "What's going on?"

"Come with me, girls." Molly commanded, a clipped tone to her usually lyrical voice. "We have to get back to Headquarters right away."

"What's happening?" Ginny and Maggie asked at the same time. "Where is everyone going?"

"To Hogwarts," Molly answered quickly, grabbing hold of each of their arms. "Let's go."

"Why?" Ginny asked, shrugging away from her mother. "Where is Harry?"

"And Sirius?"

Molly drew in a sharp breath and explained hurriedly, "The Dark Mark has appeared over the school. They have all gone to help Dumbledore ward off an attack by Voldemort and his Death Eaters." Molly grabbed her daughter's arm again as she explained hurriedly, "We have to get the two of you to safety."


	25. The Women Who Love Them

**Cowabunga** - I know 2 weeks is kind of quick to plan a wedding..it took almost a year to plan mine. But, I figured that in a time of war the process would speed up a bit!

**Ginny Guera** - I kind of skimmed over that part about Sirius being free now, didn't I? Sorry. But I wrote in one of the chapters after the battle that Sirius was free because the Ministry members saw Peter Pettigrew with Voldemort at the Dept. of Mysteries.

**To all my other reviewers and readers**...Thanks for keeping me motivated! I hope this chapter doesn't seem too rushed or out of place. But I have to get Maggie to Hogwarts for reasons that will become clear soon and this was the way that I came up with. I am going on JKR's info that Ginny is a really powerful witch!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five – The Women Who Love Them**

_Later that night…_

Waiting was not something Maggie Thompson liked to do. But she found that she had absolutely nothing to help her pass the time except worrying and waiting. So she had retired to her bedroom on the third floor, where at least there she did not have to worry about keeping up appearances. She would lay down on her bed, rise, pace back and forth in front of the fire, become frustrated with herself, plop down on the bed again, and repeat the process all over again.

And still she waited.

The young teacher was too anxious and worried to concentrate on anything, and she could not bear to be around anyone else. She knew she would be too transparent to them, but more than that she just did not want to deal with people at the moment…not even Ginny and Molly. She knew she was far too likely to fly off the handle at the simplest provocation, and she was also liable to interpret absolutely anything as a provocation.

Which wasn't fair, given the fact that the Weasley women were just as worried as she was.

"Are you asleep?"

Maggie turned her head away from the crack in the ceiling that she had been staring at and smiled softly as Ginny pushed open the door to her bedroom at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

"Not by a long shot," Maggie answered, pulling herself up to a sitting position and motioning for Ginny to join her on the bed by patting the empty spot on the quilt next to her. "Is your mum still cooking?"

Ginny nodded as she folded her legs underneath her on the bed and sat next to Maggie with her head down. Wild, tangled, red hair concealed her pretty face, but the flames from the crackling fire threw their burning light on her small silhouette. Her fingers twisted a piece of parchment while she sat there, defeated.

"She always cooks when she is nervous or scared," the redhead informed her softly, "I guess that she thinks it will take her mind off things."

Maggie nodded in agreement and asked, "Time may fly when you are having fun, but it dies when you are worried." She realized that she was being a bit impatient, but she could not help how she felt, so she asked, "How long have they been gone?"

Ginny shrugged and scowled as she answered, "Hours. This is driving me insane. I hate not knowing what is going on."

Unable to keep still, the teenager rose up from the bed and moved to look out the window into the darkness and finally allowed herself the satisfaction of giving in to the confusing jumble of emotions creating a maelstrom within her. The faint voices of the Muggles walking along Grimmauld Place carried on the wind, completely unaware what was going on at Hogwarts, and their happy chatter only succeeded in making the achy, empty hole in her chest more pronounced. Turning back to Maggie with sad eyes, Ginny said, "It seems to be the story of my life…wherever the people I love are going, I can't go."

"Gin…" Maggie began sympathetically, but the young girl kept talking as if she didn't hear her interruptions.

"My brothers all went off to Hogwarts before me and left me at the Burrow for years. Ron and Hermione run off with Harry on his adventures all the time and never tell me where they are going, and now they've all gone off to fight Voldemort and they've left us behind. I am just as smart – I'm just as bright. I can whip up a Bat-bogey hex within a milli-second and conjure up a patronus, something Hermione isn't even able to do. I'm more fearless than Ron _–_ but," she finished, giving a quiet, resentful laugh, "we can't have little Ginny getting hurt, can we?"

"Well, it could be worse," Maggie said, trying to sound helpful, "You could be a completely useless Muggle like me who has no idea what a Bat-bogey Hex is, let alone how to whip one up." She gave Ginny a half-smile and added, "Or have the man that you love worried that you are just a silly woman incapable of grasping the cold, hard facts of war and worried that you are simply taken up with the grandeur of being in love with a wizard."

"Sirius doesn't really think that," Ginny responded sympathetically. "He just wants to make sure that you are safe." Shaking her head in frustration, she muttered, "Stupid, noble men."

Maggie chuckled and agreed, "It's not as if this house is all that safe anymore, anyway. Sirius doesn't trust Professor Snape at all and knows that he saw me the night of the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. And Kreacher is only loyal to Sirius because he has to be…his real loyalties lie with that Death Eater cousin of his."

"Bellatrix." Ginny agreed, shivering involuntarily at the woman's name. "Harry, more than most, understands that nowhere is entirely safe now. And he and Sirius are definitely cut from the same cloth. Harry doesn't want me anywhere near his showdown with Voldemort when that day comes…whether it be tonight or years from now."

Ginny glanced back out the window at the vast sky, millions of stars blinking back at her. For a moment, she wondered what would happen if they fell out the sky and she didn't think the world would be any more confusing. Leaning her head against the cool glass, she whispered, "The world is falling apart, and they act like we're just a couple of helpless girls watching it crumble into dust."

"But we're not helpless." Maggie told her sharply, her frustration finally reaching the surface. "If there is one thing I have learned in my life, it's that when the world around you is falling apart, Ginny, that's when it's imperative that you trust yourself." She looked at Ginny, her eyes two bright spots lit up by the rising moon. "We can't just sit here and wait for fate to decide our lives for us. We should do something about it."

"How are we supposed to—" Ginny stopped mid-sentence and she felt a sudden rush of excitement and smiled to herself. She looked up to see Maggie smiling in return. "There's nobody here to stop us from going to Hogwarts."

"Your mum…"

"Is completely caught up in her pot of stew." The teenager finished and Maggie could see the wheels in her head begin to turn. "But how are we going to get there?"

"Do you know how to apparate?" Maggie asked, knowing that their means of transportation were limited due to her own lack of skills.

"Not with someone else," Ginny answered with a frown. "Fred and George taught me a little, but I wouldn't want to put you in danger. And we can't use the Floo Network because mum will definitely find out." She looked thoughtful for a moment and then muttered, "If only we had a portkey…"

"We do!"

Ginny looked up at Maggie in confusion as she bounded off the bed and ran out of the room. She returned moments later with a large plaque that she set on the end of the bed.

"What is that?"

"It's the Black Family Crest," Maggie informed her young friend. "Also known as the portkey that Sirius and I took to Hogwarts back at the beginning of your new term."

"Sirius made a portkey out of his family crest?" Ginny asked, a grin spreading over her face as she studied the golden markings in the dark wood. "Classic."

"Do you think it still works?"

"If not, I can create a new one with the Portus spell." the redhead said, taking out her wand.

"You can do that?" Maggie asked in amazement.

"Harry taught us all during DA lessons."

"DA?"

"Dumbledore's Army." Ginny told her, studying the crest carefully. "Harry formed it to help us protect ourselves and fight back against Voldemort. A lot of the kids at school were a part of it. Okay, now Harry said I have to hold in my mind the destination that we desire…"

"Hogwarts."

"Right," Ginny agreed and then continued, "and we must also decide whether the portkey is to be a there-and-return key, in which case I must also hold the return destination in mind."

"Sounds complicated," Maggie remarked, pursing her lips and watching Ginny apprehensively.

"Give me a minute." The teenager snapped, holding her wand over the crest and muttering an incantation under her breath. As the two of them watched expectantly, the crest suddenly began to vibrate and glow bright blue before it returned to it's original form. Ginny grinned triumphantly up at Maggie and exclaimed, "I did it!"

"Outstanding!" The young teacher replied happily, high fiving her young friend. "Are you ready?"

Ginny nodded and the pair reached out to touch the crest simultaneously. In an instant, it felt as if someone were tugging them from behind with a large hook and in the blink of an eye Maggie's bedroom disappeared around them. The next thing they knew, Maggie and Ginny were once again tumbling across the great lawn as if they were gymnasts in a circus.

"That doesn't ever get any easier, does it?" Maggie muttered, as she steadied herself for a moment before lifting herself off the ground.

The night sky above Hogwarts was dark so far out from London and it was an absolutely clear night. A flood of stars sparkled above, virtually covering the tops of the trees. In the distance, the castle was lit up by red and green flashes of light that one might have mistaken for fireworks set off by Fred and George if they didn't know the reality of the situation.

"Stay close to me," Ginny commanded, grabbing Maggie's hand in hers as they made their way up to the castle. The weight of what they were doing suddenly settled into Maggie's chest as they got closer to their destination. Maybe this had been a mistake…they didn't really have a plan as to what they were going to do once they arrived at the battle. But the thought of Harry and Sirius staring down the wrong end of a wand during their last moments kept Maggie and Ginny moving as if possessed.

The inner courtyard of Hogwarts was the last barrier between the dark forces and the castle itself and it was hard to tell if the members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army, a fellowship much larger than the mere handful of students who started it, was winning. Truthfully, though, Maggie did not see or hear much outside of the enemies in front of them. Her entire world narrowed to encompass the bolts of energy that flew from the tip of Ginny's wand and the incantations that flew from her lips as they made their way into the heart of the battle.

Chaos.

A blast of red light, brilliant in its intensity. The glowing jet shot toward them like lightning, then seemed to freeze for a moment in midstream.

As Maggie shrunk back in fear, Ginny shouted, "It's okay…I put up a Shield Charm to protect us."

Out of the corner of her eye, Maggie saw Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin pause to cast a binding spell around the wrists and ankles of an stupefied Death Eater. Behind her, a goblin raised his ax.

Maggie nudged Ginny, but she had already seen and reacted quickly, whipping a cord of pure energy around the hilt of the snarling thing's weapon and giving a great heave. The large double-headed hatchet came barreling toward them, rolling sideways through the air in a tight spin. Maggie's arm instinctively shot forward to grab the hilt and the tightly bunched muscles of her arm sent the weapon hurtling back through the air where it lodged itself dead center in its owner's skull, cleaving the tissue and bone nearly in half.

"Who dared call you helpless?" Ginny asked, glancing quickly back at Maggie as they surveyed the fresh carnage, mouths grim.

The once vast lawns of Hogwarts were churned up into muddy fields that were half blood and all sorrow. The ground was littered with the bodies of the dead, lifeless and lacerated forms that bore hex marks and manifestations of curses, the worst of which were the victims of the Unforgivables, who lay stiff and pained looking.

"It looks like things are almost over," Ginny observed quietly as the pair headed toward the great steps that led to the main entrance to Hogwarts. "Let's see if we can find someone that we know."

They turned to survey the devastation and as her eyes roamed, Maggie knew she should feel something, but had no idea what. Gore was everywhere, the dead and dying strewn on the ground like broken pawns of wizard's chess and hexes charged the air with energy that made her hair stand on end. But nothing penetrated her haze of confusion, save an odd numbness that filled her weakened limbs, mind, and heart. There was only the dull ache pressing in her chest to remind her that she was capable of emotion at all. She didn't know whether her friends had lived or died and that, she thought, was the most awful part.

This was what Sirius had tried to protect her from. But she was convinced now more than ever that he had been wrong. This was exactly what she needed to see and experience.

Maggie scanned the crowd desperately, shouting Sirius' name until her throat grew hoarse. She knew something was wrong the moment she saw the crowd of people and instinctively began moving towards them. A feeling, deep in the pit of her stomach, sent a sharp pain to every nerve of her body. Her stomach was now full of lead and blood rushed through her ears, pounding so loudly she was unable to hear the muttered whispers or see the worried glances in her direction. Her feet seemed to remember how to work without her, and she allowed them to carry her with quicker, longer strides until she reached the large group of people. She swallowed, her throat so tight and dry she could barely breathe.

Someone saw her edging towards the crowd, and nudged the person standing next to them. The motion was repeated several times until part of the group moved closer, attempting to shield her from the view. The blurry faces seemed familiar to her and she could make out certain members of the Order and the Weasley family, but that didn't keep her heart from stopping.

"Let me through," she choked out, straining to get to him. "Get out of my way," she tried to scream, but only a shallow whisper was audible. "Please," she cried out, her voice breaking. "H-he needs me."

With a few more significant glances, Neville, Fred, and George edged to the side, allowing her to step within the circle. The crowd was surrounding three bodies; two of which were Death Eaters. And then she saw him.

Maggie felt something inside her break at that moment. It wasn't her heart, or her mind and sanity. She felt herself literally break. At that moment, that turning point in her life, she felt her whole being fall apart. And then she let the tears fall.

With tears streaming down her face in small rivers, she didn't bother to wipe them away as her knees gave way and she collapsed on the ground. Oblivious to those around her or the voices beginning to amplify, she pushed aside the two Death Eaters until she reached her destination.

"Oh, God," Maggie breathed as she saw the copious amount of blood soaking his body. His eyes were closed, and just from looking at him she could tell he had several broken bones; one in his leg, another in his arm. A large gash was bleeding heavily on his cheek, blood smeared across his paling face.

"Sirius," Maggie whispered, moving to cradle his head closer to her body.

Hearing her voice, his eyes fluttered open slowly, and he lifted a shaking hand to her face. Resting his fingers on a piece of her curling hair, he gently brushed it back and away from her face, breathing in her scent.

And he smiled.

"You're alive," she whispered, lifting one of his blood soaked hands and covering it with her own. The tears continued, but now that he was looking at her, she began to calm down a little.

He was alive.

"Shh, don't cry Magnolia," he said, hushing her. "I'll be alright. But…"

Maggie felt his body shudder slightly, and his breathing was becoming labored. "But what?" she demanded, trying to keep herself from whimpering. "Sirius…"

"He's gone." Sirius breathed, his eyelids fluttering closed as he struggled against his injuries and exhaustion to keep them open. "He fell."

The words took on meaning, and she felt her blood go cold. Fear clutching at her heart, she asked softly, "Harry? Did Voldemort get to him, Sirius?"

It seemed like it took every ounce of strength he had left for Sirius to shake his head and mutter the words that would change everyone's destiny…

"Dumbledore's dead."


	26. In the Aftermath of Battle

**Chapter Twenty Six - In the Aftermath of Battle**

_An hour later…._

There was a river of blood, wide and long and thick, thicker than she'd ever known blood would be.

But she should have known.

Maggie Thompson should have known that blood would be nearly black once it dried and more of a deep burgundy, the color of dark wine, when it spread slickly over the flagstones of the hospital wing at Hogwarts. She should have known that it would mix with the dirt of battle to cake her shoes and creep beneath her fingernails, making her look like a wild thing…carnal and untamed.

For when Maggie had followed the Healers who carried Sirius down the short corridor to the infirmary, she was met with the sight of a young boy laid out on a table before her, stomach blown open from a flesh-eating hex and crying out in pain until he passed out completely as his hand still clutched his wand.

There was blood everywhere, all over the boy and dripping onto the floor in a steady stream that belied Madam Pomfrey's reassuring murmurs that the child was "going to be fine, a scratch is all, nothing to stop you from standing up and fighting again on the morrow."

The boy was missing a shoe and aside from the gaping wound he had suffered, there was not another scratch on him. Maggie listened to the older witch's mutterings, almost believing them except for the dark thought that perhaps she uttered such nonsense beneath her breath to keep herself from going insane. The stench of seared flesh and the sight of ragged clothing mingling with peeled skin was enough to send the young teacher retching into the corner.

The boy died not ten minutes after being brought inside the infirmary, having lost too much blood to stave off death, and because even Madam Pomfrey could not work miracles that large.

But the child's death was dismissed quickly as Madam Pomfrey grabbed the arms of a young Healer and gave him a good shake, hard enough to make his teeth knock together.

"There isn't time to spare for despair or repulsion or horror," she told him. "There is only time to try to stop death from taking any more lives than absolutely necessary, time to heal those we can in order to send them back out into the fight, and time to make those who remain comfortable in their last moments."

Maggie swallowed the bile that rose up in her throat as the young man, not much older than Harry or Ginny, nodded his response at the Healer and then plunged back into the chaos that engulfed the hospital wing.

Everything from that point on blurred together in a mass of terrible things - hexes and curses and corporeal wounds - which all contributed to the ever widening carmine river that drained toward the grate at one end of the room. Somewhere amidst the ghastliness came an overwhelming pain in Maggie's middle, the knowledge that she hadn't been prepared for the consequences of war, had thought their victory sure and their fighters strong. Staring wrongness in the face was an intense experience, as guilt and dread settled into her limbs as lead weights.

There wasn't enough help in the infirmary, but there also were not enough fighters, so those who could quickly spirited themselves away to rejoin the battle, while Madam Pomfrey, her young assistant, and a handful of other students took care of the rest. Healers were on the way, they said, but Maggie doubted if once they arrived they would have anything or anyone left to heal.

Wizarding warfare turned out not to be all that different from what Maggie had heard of Muggle combat. When her father's old army buddies had come by the house in her childhood and had too much to drink, the stories flowed as easily as the whiskey and she remembered how angry they got as they recalled their time at war. And just like in her father's stories, the injured did not stop coming and infirmary duties never trickled down to manageable. Instead, the flood became a roar and the roar a great crashing wave of need.

Maggie glanced down at Sirius as Madam Pomfrey came over to check his vital signs. It was strange for him not to be surrounded by a roomful of machines monitoring his breathing or heart rate and the silence of the ward was beginning to press in on her.

"How is he?" Maggie asked quietly, staring intently up at the overworked witch. "Is there any change?"

"He's better off than most," Madam Pomfrey answered quickly and sharply, nodding over to the bodies who had already been covered with sheets. "He just needs to rest now."

Maggie's thoughts immediately went to Dumbledore and she blinked back the tears that sprang into her eyes as Sirius shifted in his cot, the bedsprings protesting squeakily. She could sense that he couldn't find any position that would allow him respite from the burning scars on his arms and chest, save on his back and he was tired of staring into the darkness of the hospital wing's vaulted ceiling.

"Madam Pomfrey says you are going to be fine," Maggie whispered to him, leaning down and taking his hand in hers.

"I heard her," he answered groggily, "And that is not what she said."

"It's what she meant." Maggie shot back, smiling at him warmly. She was just so glad that he was alive.

"Okay," he smiled back, wincing at the pain the enveloped his body. He gave in too quickly, so Maggie knew he must be in agony.

Sirius' stomach knotted tightly and he squeezed his eyes shut, allowing the darkness of his eyelids to pull him under. He didn't want to think about Dumbledore, because if he did, he might cry. Sirius Black never cried, or at least he didn't do it in front of people. Men weren't supposed to cry and he took that credo very seriously. Taking a deep breath, he said, "You never told me what you were doing here."

"I didn't like getting left behind, not knowing if you and Harry and the others were alive or dead," she explained quietly, watching the color drain from his face as another wave of pain must have washed over him. "So Ginny and I…"

"You brought Ginny with you?" he interrupted, momentarily forgetting about his pain as he tried to raise his eyebrow at her.

"Actually, she brought me." Maggie corrected, gripping his hand and holding on with everything that she had. "She created a portkey out of that same family crest that you used to…"

"Ginny created a portkey?" Sirius interrupted again, eyes wide in shock. "She's fifteen. She could get in a lot of trouble for performing underage magic…"

"With all that has gone on tonight, I doubt the Ministry will have time to care."

Both Sirius and Maggie turned around to find Ginny and Harry standing behind them at Sirius' bedside. Maggie quickly got up and threw her arms around Harry and then Ginny as Sirius warned, "Do not underestimate what the Ministry will choose to care about after tonight."

"Sirius," Harry said somberly, disentangling himself from Maggie's embrace and moving closer to his godfather, "Professor Dumbledore is dead."

"I know," Sirius replied, placing his hand over Harry's, "He fell near where I was fighting. I couldn't believe it even though I had seen it with my own eyes."

"Snape killed him."

The words tumbled from Harry's lips as the other three fell into a stunned silence and just stared at the boy wizard.

"How do you know this?" Sirius demanded, the first to regain his power of speech as he glared at Harry.

"I was in the tower with him when it happened…" Harry began, sitting in the chair that Maggie had vacated at his godfather's bedside. As the two men began to discuss the events of the night, Maggie pulled Ginny aside for their own private conversation.

"How is your family?" she asked quickly, scanning the room for any signs of red hair. "Did they make it through the battle?"

Ginny's face fell as Maggie's eyes came to settle on her and she replied, "Bill was bitten by Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf that bit Professor Lupin when he was a child. But he wasn't in his werewolf state, so it might not be as bad as they first thought."

"Where is he?"

"Out in the corridor," she replied tiredly, nodding toward the door. "There wasn't enough room in here. Remus and Tonks are with him while my father has gone to send a message to my mum."

Maggie sighed with relief to hear that Remus, Tonks, and Arthur Weasley were all unharmed and then asked, "What about Ron and the twins? Hermione? Or Kingsley and Neville and Lu-…"

"They're all fine," Ginny assured her, laying a comforting hand on Maggie's arm. "Neville and Luna are out helping to tend to the wounded on the front grounds, while Kingsley is surveying the damage. The twins are ogling Bill's bite out in the corridor and Ron is with Hermione…she had a few broken bones, but she will be okay."

"She is better than the two of you are going to be when Molly finds out that you are here instead of with her at Grimmauld Place," Harry chimed in, looking up at Maggie and Ginny.

Sirius' pained expression melted into a semi-smile as he looked at Ginny in awe and asked, "You made a portkey?"

Squeezing Harry's hand and looking down at him, Ginny grinned and turned beat red as she replied, "I had a good teacher."

"And that's not all he taught her," Maggie added, "You should have seen her in battle…"

"The two of you should never have come," Sirius interrupted sharply, glaring at Maggie suddenly. "This is no place for you. We already discussed this and…"

"And I decided to come anyway," Maggie finished for him, raising her eyebrow at the man who was trying to scold her from where he lay in a hospital bed. "I told you that I am tougher than I look."

"She killed an ogre," Ginny told Harry and Sirius, standing shoulder to shoulder with Maggie as they faced the men in their lives. "And saved Tonks' life."

"What?" Harry and Sirius asked at the same time.

"I killed an ogre."

"Without magic?" Harry asked in disbelief, a new respect crossing his face as he looked at his former teacher.

"Without magic," Maggie confirmed, staring directly at Sirius. "Ginny seized his hatchet with her wand and I threw it back at him."

"She hit him right between the eyes," Ginny added, folding her arms across her chest in defiance. "Literally…right between the eyes."

"You still should have…" Sirius began to protest, but Maggie interrupted quickly.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" she asked pointedly, folding her own arms over her chest and glaring at Sirius. "You're the one flat on his back in a hospital bed…not me."

"Uh oh," Harry whispered to Ginny, getting up from the chair and grabbing Ginny's hand, "I think that is our cue to go check on Bill and prepare for your mum's wrath."

As the two teenagers fled the scene, Maggie returned to her seat at Sirius' bedside and silence fell between them as she found herself just staring at him in the darkness. He had, surprisingly, listened to her and settled back into his cot, but whenever he breathed in, Sirius winced with pain, his features taut with the strain. He was staring at Maggie in the darkness as well and she felt, with a small thrill through her gut, that he was watching her in an attempt to forget the pain.

"Dumbledore is dead," he said quietly and heavily. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment and then he opened them, his gaze raw.

"I know," she said softly.

He knew she knew, of course. He had been the one to tell her earlier. And she had been standing there when Harry said it again. But saying it out loud to Maggie seemed to make it real.

And it seemed to be all either of them could say. There was a raw, gaping wound in both of them and not even Madam Pomfrey could heal it.

Maggie took Sirius' hands in hers again as she thought of the wise and gentle Albus Dumbledore for a moment and then she thought of Harry…Harry who had loved Dumbledore like a father in his life. Her throat closed and she found that her eyes were stinging again.

"I wanted to protect you from this," he whispered, squeezing her hands and ignoring the pain that it caused. "I wanted to shield you from this kind of pain."

"You can't, Sirius," Maggie told him gently. "Pain finds us all, even when we think we are protected from it. And hiding from the pain just makes it harder to deal with when it finally does find you." Leaning closer to him, she added softly, "I meant it when I told you that I am tougher than I look. I can handle the pain that life brings. I'm here, Sirius….I've seen what you didn't want me to see. I have seen death and war and the carnage that occurs in battle…and I'm still standing. I haven't run for the hills. I can handle this life. And this love…if you'll just let me." Reaching up to brush a strand of his hair away from his face, she added in a whisper, "Don't push me away anymore, Sirius. Let me love you. Let me be loved by you."

Her dark haired lover was silent for a few moments before he softly whispered into the darkness, "I haven't cried yet."

As Maggie looked at him in confusion, he added, "For Dumbledore. I haven't cried yet for my friend Dumbledore."

The bedsprings of his cot creaked and Sirius felt movement and then warmth at his side. Maggie's hands covered his and he looked up. Her face was very near, the tears on her cheeks still there and more were threatening to flow from her large blue eyes. His chest was rising rapidly and she knew that her movement had caused him a great deal of pain.

"Why not?" Maggie asked softly, her breath whispering out along his neck. He felt gooseflesh crawl down his side.

"I was waiting for you," Sirius breathed, losing himself in those beautiful eyes of hers. Tears stung his eyes and he felt one slip past his resolve and spill down his cheek like a hot, guilty brand. He felt Maggie's fingers lace with his and he looked down at them, another tear rolling down his cheek. It splashed onto Maggie's wrist and rolled toward their joined fingers as he confessed, "Because nothing is real for me anymore without you. You are a part of me, Magnolia. As much a part of me as my own heart. And I can't deny that anymore. I don't want to."

Sirius closed his eyes and bent his head. He felt Maggie's head on his shoulder as she leaned into him gently. Pain raced up his arms, but he ignored it for the warmth of her body. More tears escaped his closed eyes and he felt Maggie's tears soak his shirt. Her blond hair clung to his wet face and he found himself burying his face in it, breathing in her warm scent.

Sirius closed his eyes and his hand reached to cup her cheek as he caressed her skin with his thumb. He enjoyed the soft texture and the way she breathed against him.

They lay that way for some time; foreheads pressed together, breath mingling. Neither of them wanted to move. Quiet settled around them, broken only by Sirius' occasional sharp intake of breath and the steady thumping of their hearts. But Sirius Black was determined to hold his Magnolia until the pain receded.

And if that took days, that was fine with him.


	27. Where Nightmares Begin

**_Sorry for the delay everyone! The holidays are here and there never seems to be enough time for anything! But I did steal a few moments for myself this morning to come up with this! You knew that Maggie and Sirius were too happy, didn't you? Settle in for the next twist and enjoy!_**

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**Chapter Twenty Seven – Where Nightmares Begin**

_Hours later, at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…_

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

Ginny looked over at Maggie as the pair wandered the deserted corridors of Hogwarts and raised her eyebrow as she asked, "The battle, the hospital wing, or my mum's wrath?"

"Molly." Maggie answered with a small smile. "The battle and what went on in the hospital wing were bad, but I was expecting your mum to blow us out of the water for leaving the safety of Grimmauld Place."

"I think she was more concerned with Bill than she was with our sneaking out," Ginny explained, rounding a corner and leading Maggie down another corridor, "So I'm sure that the tongue lashing we just got is only the beginning of what she has in store for us. So, for once, I was glad to agree with Harry and Sirius when they suggested that we get cleaned up and then try to rest up in the dormitories."

Maggie nodded in agreement and for the first time all evening, she felt the heaviness of the battle and its aftermath sink into her shoulders. She was tired. And dirty. And covered in blood that wasn't even hers.

Yes, cleaning up and resting was certainly a good idea.

Plus, it got her and Ginny out of the hospital wing and away from the death and despair that hung over the infirmary. Minerva McGonagel had begun discussing Dumbledore's funeral and the already dreary mood turned downright solemn. Without Dumbledore there, it just seemed wrong, and without Snape there…he was an annoying git, yes, but things seemed doubly wrong without him and his sneering comments.

They stopped in front of the portrait hole that led to the Gryffindor dormitories and Ginny muttered something under her breath that caused the portrait to swing open long enough for them to walk through. Maggie shook her head in semi-amusement but realized that nothing about the wizarding world really surprised her anymore as Ginny pointed out the washrooms and the room where she and her friends slept.

As Maggie wandered into the bathroom to cleanse her face of the day's anxiety, the thoughts of a promising tomorrow became haunting ones of the day gone by. Mad Eye Moody was dead. Dumbledore was dead. Children, no older than Harry and Ginny, were dying all around. And the monster who had caused it all was still out there somewhere…with his eyes set squarely on Harry and anyone who stood in his way. For a brief moment, she felt a surge of fear flow through her veins, washing her blood with its pin prick sharpness and waking her from the semi-comatose state she'd been drifting in since finding Sirius' half-conscious body lying on the ground.

What had become of her life?

She felt a creeping sensation enter her bones as the thought occurred that it was her own fault that she was caught up in this. In the danger and in the black.

Sirius had been right on the night they had first met…she was foolish for getting herself separated from her friends in London on that fateful summer night. And she was foolish for staying. Why didn't she insist on leaving the moment she found out that she was surrounded by wizards who were engaged in a serious war? But as the questions continued to swirl around in her head, Maggie knew the simple answers.

Harry.

And Sirius.

They were the reasons she didn't leave. The reasons she couldn't leave.

The tears didn't come until Maggie made sure that the wash room's door was shut securely behind her. And, even then, they were controlled. Maggie felt like her heart had white knuckles for how hard it was holding onto itself. Each tear that escaped felt like it was slipping through a tightly clenched fist, a testament that she wasn't as strong as she should be.

Oh, God.

Poor Sirius.

Maggie's heart broke seeing her friend, her lover, so distraught. First he lost James and Lily and even Peter, then Harry, and his freedom. But now he had lost Dumbledore and he had to worry about Harry's safety on top of that? It was all just too much for one person to handle.

Maggie's heart constricted at the thought of what Harry still faced, then lept in her throat. And suddenly something broke inside her. Leaning over the sink, the young teacher gripped the edge of its smooth surface, her tears coming fast and hot.

Her body fought against the sobs that came, but was unable to stop them. So she cried. She cried, dropping down until she was crouched on the floor, her arms raised above her, still holding onto the edge of the counter so hard her fingers were white and bloodless. She cried for Harry and Molly and young Neville, and anyone else who already lost someone they loved to this war. She cried for Tonks and for Minerva and for all of the red-headed, fun-loving Weasley's.

She cried until she was all cried out, then she slowly, her arms feeling like jello, lifted herself up until she was standing. She sat down on a nearby stool, and slumped forward, resting one hot cheek against the cool metal surface of the countertop and stayed that way for several long, quiet minutes before she took a deep breath, collected herself, and sat up.

She hadn't bothered with the lights in the bathroom, so she suddenly realized that she couldn't see her own reflection. Maggie frowned at the sudden stuffiness of the small room and opened a window, a little ajar, expecting a gush of air so cool and sweet it may have eased the pain away. But what she got instead took her breath away.

The air was cool, certainly, but beyond any temperature she'd ever experienced. Cold, lifeless, empty. She gasped in the face of it, as she never sensed it coming, feeling her knees a little weakened as its freezing status seeped beyond her flesh. It was as if the air had crept under her skin, cooling her instantly to unbearable levels. She turned, anxious, but pushed ever further by a sudden noise downstairs in the common room.

"Who's there?"

A creak, that's all.

A noisy, old castle on an unusual night.

It was just her mind playing tricks. She settled down again as the noise returned with a vengeance.

Bang.

"Ginny?"

She had no idea what guided her, a supernatural force perhaps, but as the noise manifested itself as a knock on the portrait door, she felt herself drawn to it, no questions asked. Before she departed the bathroom, a swift search of the dressing table brought to her aid a heavy handled curling tong.

Defense.

She wielded it at arm's length in front of her, brandishing it with the essence of a sword just like Sirius and Ginny and the other fighters back in the quad. She certainly wasn't a Pettigrew, hiding her schemes behind her back. She could gain maximum impact by being up front. But whoever made the noise on the other side of the door didn't even give her a chance.

She was halfway down the stairs when the door fell off its hinges. She was suddenly aware of a sea of bodies entering the common room, their frantic and desperate nature expelling from their bodies like the smell of rot and decay. She heard the occasional crash from the descent of an ornamental hanging as the strangers committed their undefined search, and Maggie gripped the banister harder and harder with every tinkling destruction. She heard the swish of a cloak as it sliced through the air. She froze.

"Search this place from top to bottom if you have to…" said a voice, yet undefined. "The master cannot afford to have his servants exposed."

Several grunts of acknowledgement came from the direction of the boy's dormitories, when another clatter made their search even more apparent. The thought then occurred that she had not yet been seen. The intruders believed the dormitories derelict….the survivors congregating in the hospital wing.

If Maggie could just sneak down the stairs and out the front door, judging by the draught still open to the world, then perhaps, just perhaps…

Ginny!

Where was Ginny?

But her thoughts were dead. The cloaked stranger was moving. She could feel him shift his feet, dragging them slowly and measured across the hall carpet and place one firmly on the initial step toward her.

The stairs.

Her heart was screaming wildly in her chest, as its mad erratic beat seemed to match the movements of the man, timid to frantic in the skip of a second. She pressed herself against the banister, hoping to just blend in and praying for an uncertainty she knew would never be delivered. She sank to her knees, defeated before she even began.

"Who are you?" he demanded, in a voice that immediately caused Maggie to let out a desperate sob. He wasn't one for small talk.

The man grabbed her face with one hand, his freezing fingers clapped chillingly round her cheeks as he dragged her to her feet, trembling under his monster grip.

It was the man she had asked for directions on the street outside of Grimmauld Place.

Maggie didn't reply. She could feel someone behind her and something being poked deep into her back, so she didn't even dare to scream. She closed her eyes to the threat.

"Look at me, woman." said the voice again, his grip tightening and feeling like her jaw would cave in at any given moment. Her eyes remained shut, so he shouted again, "Look at me!"

At this point she couldn't refuse. She brought her face up under his formidable grip and exposed her pupils to the night, staring at the darkness in front of her.

He gasped, and she felt his grip weaken a little as the ice of his cold, gray eyes hit her square in the face and gut. The piercing, invisible stare was working its magic once again. Her aggressor shivered but was not in the slightest deterred and she saw him smile.

"She's a Muggle!" he said, an evil hint of happiness creeping into his tones. "She must be the Muggle staying at Grimmauld Place that Severus mentioned. Wormtail!"

He let her drop, as the footsteps of the summoned man approached. Weakened by his hold, as her legs gave way again, as she felt a familiar pair of eyes cast sight on her again. Never before had a pair of eyes managed to pierce the boundary of her very soul, but the pain of that stare, over a decade in the waiting, was enough to send her body rigid with fright. It buckled her defenses and sent her tumbling down.

"I know you," the short, round man stuttered, his nerve not collected but seemingly deadlier still as his eyes roamed over Maggie's face and body.

"And I know you," Maggie shot back with courage she didn't know she possessed, "I saw you on the street in Godric's Hollow after James and Lily Potter were killed. I know what you did."

If the rat was shocked by her answer, he didn't show it. He remained surprisingly calm as he hissed, "So, we meet again little one. I always knew that your day would come."

"Help!" Maggie screamed, "Somebody help me!"

Bursting into the room, the first thing Ginny saw was Maggie being thrown into the common room wall, her cheek making a sickening cracking sound when it connected against the stone surface.

"Maggie!"

Maggie, stumbling blindly back from the wall, fell to the floor, crying out, knowing the blood she tasted in her mouth was now her own. Even through the pain, though, she heard her young friend yell her name, and her heart plummeted to the floor.

No, not Ginny. Why did she have to be the one to show up, to be put in danger?

"Maggie!" Ginny cried out again, flying down the stairs from her dormitory room with her hair flowing behind her. In her focus on her friend, the young redhead failed to notice the two wizards coming at her from either side until they already had her restrained.

"Damn it, let me go," Ginny yelled, trying to yank herself free. She struggled hard, but was unable to pull away from their iron clad grips.

When Wormtail gave Ginny a dark look before the blond man stalked towards Maggie, pulling her limp body roughly from the floor, she began to scream, "Don't you touch her! Leave Ginny alone!"

The response she got was her captor kneeing her in the stomach. Maggie doubled over with a huff and fought to breathe, the wind having been knocked out of her.

"This one is a Weasley!" Wormtail hissed, struggling to hold onto an ever moving Ginny. From her position, Maggie could see that Ginny did not have her wand with her.

"And Potter's girlfriend," Maggie's captor added, a vengeful smile coming to his lips, "It seems that Draco's jealous ramblings have served a purpose, after all."

With newfound vigor, Maggie wrenched against the hold the man with the platinum blond hair had on her and felt one of her fists connect with his eye.

His cry was piercing, like that of a wounded animal, and hearing it gave Maggie a perverse sense of satisfaction even as he hissed, "You bitch!" before grabbing his wand and shouting, "Immobulus!"

Maggie kicked. She moaned. She screamed the loudest scream she could ever have mustered but yet no sound appeared in the air. She was frozen. And as the grip of two heavier cronies tightened painfully round her useless limbs to remove her from the scene, Wormtail was in control. And ready for revenge.

"Take them away."


	28. Bait

**Hey loyal readers! Once again, I am so sorry for the delay in chapters!! If I thought the weeks surrounding Thanksgiving were crazy, you can imagine the weeks leading up to Christmas!! But the Christmas party we were supposed to attend last night got snowed out and I actually had a few hours to myself while the kids were off with friends and grandparents! So, here is the next not-so-cheery installment of our story. Sorry to be such a downer, but I thought I would be closer to the happy ending this close to Christmas!! Oh well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...**

**Happy Reading!**

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**Chapter Twenty Eight - Bait**

Maggie had the world's worst headache.

It started off behind her left temple, nothing more than a tickle underneath the skin and bone, but gradually became a pain that crept right across her brow and settled behind her eyes where no relief could reach. Her eyes remained tightly shut, screwing up against the agony as she felt herself being dragged to her feet, a daze of consciousness still waiting to be fully in her grasp.

She felt like hell.

She had no idea where she was, or any reasonable recollection of how she got there.

But she knew to be afraid.

Maggie felt any remaining energy ebb out of her limbs as her assailant pulled her to an upright state. He did this only for her to slouch right back down in return, gaining some muttered curses under his foul-smelling breath as he eventually was forced to half drag her behind him as they continued their journey on foot. All she could sense was that wherever they were, it was dark, damp, and about as far from Hogwarts as New Zealand was from Manhattan.

The young teacher could hear her captor breathing in and out, his respiration coming in short spurts as he feebly struggled with her additional weight. He was almost wheezing as he plodded endlessly on, ignoring her groans as he desperately tried to reach his final destination. Whoever he was…and it was certainly a he…even the smell of him was enough to make Maggie's stomach turn. He felt cold, impossibly freezing as he held tightly to her wrist while dragging her along, as if something was stealing the very life force from his own body and replacing itself with something much darker.

As she finally began to emerge from the darkness of the abyss, an equally dark sea of black met her. Her aggressor seemed to be hiding beneath lengths of black material, a hood concealing what she would have guessed to be a pale, heartless face hanging low over his features. He was almost like a sceptre of death itself, something glinting silver at his side and swinging through the air as he dragged her along and catching what little light there was as it trailed passed her sight. It seemed to weigh him down.

What struck her most, however, as they continued on their journey was the sheer amount of dread her captor was projecting. It was as if he was the one who was afraid. She could feel his fear shivering through his grip on her wrist, reluctant yet inhumanly strong, as if he was under the control of some exterior being forcing him to do this action against his will. Yet was he reluctant in his choice? He was certainly not making any excuses, or not any that had been audible to her own throbbing mind.

Maggie groaned again.

Nothing was making sense.

It was as if she was walking a personified paradox…a simple trip to the dormitories had somehow turned into a kidnapping attempt from hell in a matter of moments. Something frightening had been born out of the routine. She remembered the production of a wand, daunting in its narrow state, and a scream that may or may not have originated from her own vocal tissues echoed through her dazed memory. A word in a language she did not recognize, said with a command that turned everything black.

Their journey then came to a sudden halt just as a wave of attentiveness passed across her tired limbs. She chose not to use it, instead waiting with an air of unfounded curiosity to watch her assailant's next move and where he'd brought her so she could best gauge her position.

Magnolia Lee Thompson was a natural fighter. She was the daughter of a soldier turned firefighter and a strong, southern woman. She was the younger sister of men who followed their father into burning buildings to save strangers. And some of that had most definitely trickled down to Maggie…who had always used her skills to be the protector of the playground, of dying and sick relatives, and especially of the children who passed through the doors of her classroom year after year.

So her mind was willing her to go on the attack, to push away her oppressor and run as fast as her legs would carry her, and leave it all behind. Certainly her determination could outmatch his fear. But what would she be turning her back on? Whether her body just refused to cooperate on a basic feeling of fear or if her natural curiosity had transcended her waking thoughts, she couldn't say for sure.

Whatever it was, it was keeping her rooted to the spot.

Ginny…

Ginny, who had come foolishly to her aid when she cried out, was somewhere in the darkness.

The man suddenly removed his weapon again as Maggie immediately winced. She'd imagined it to be a heavy, deathlike baton that had inflicted her with the current pain she felt, something as dark as everything else surrounding the situation. But no.

It was a wand. Just like the ones that Harry, Sirius, Ginny and the defenders of Hogwarts had brandished hours ago in battle.

She could barely make the wand out in the dim light. It looked thin, fragile and twig-like as the man placed it in the lock of an ancient oak door like a key, twisting his wand slightly and muttering about it being _'Nothing like his own' _as the door finally granted him entrance like an old and faithful friend.

Bam.

The door swung shut behind them of its own accord, as if an invisible wind had pushed it closed with one foul swoop of its icy hand. Maggie felt herself begin to shiver uncontrollably as the room she now entered was colder than the last. From what she could make out, a disturbing green glow seemed to be hanging over the atmosphere like a lingering smell, similar to how she'd imagined the chlorine gas hanging over the trenches of the Somme, poisoning her forefathers as they fought for a cause which never seemed entirely clear. A line of blurred enemies over a muddy patch of field. Somehow, the gap between herself and whoever was sitting in an ornate chair at the other end of the room held the same essence.

Maggie was vaguely aware of being thrown across the floor, an impact that shocked through her knees as if they'd been plunged into ice, onto the stone and was now lying at the feet of a brand new tormentor. She dared not lift her head. She merely shivered and listened.

"My Lord," came the voice of her kidnapper, high pitched and worship like. Somewhere in the back of her memory, Maggie knew that voice. "I have got her, this is her. Our bargaining tool. I hope it pleases you to know…"

"Stop your snivelling, Wormtail," replied a voice from the darkened seat. "You have yet again benefited from the disproportional amount of luck someone saw at one point in time fit to bestow upon you. The fools."

Wormtail.

Maggie's heart plummeted to the cold, stone floor as she remembered that her fate was now intertwined with the man who had betrayed James and Lily Potter and sent Sirius to Azkaban.

Maggie felt herself sink further into the stone floor as the new voice entered the frame. Although it too was high pitched, it held such an air of power and authority, and the hideous ring that seemed to follow every one of the unknown syllables flooded her veins with another wave of sensual danger.

Voldemort.

This man could kill her with a murderous stare and not batter an eyelid in remorse.

"I apologize most profusely, my Lord," the traitor continued to grovel, almost sickeningly. Maggie could sense the Dark Lord shift with disgust at this sycophantic outburst. "But my network of informers have revealed to your lordship that the plan is in the midst of succeeding. We have the first ingredient. We just have to wait for them to walk into our trap."

Wormtail was almost squeaking with a mixture of pride and muffled satisfaction.

However, Maggie was aware of another movement further up the room and assumed the Dark Lord was raising his hand for calm. Wormtail immediately hushed, sensing the annoyance of his master at his unrestrained behavior through the foul-smelling air, not wishing to push the boundaries so forcing himself into silence. A swish of cloaks could be felt as something else entered the room, the temperature immediately dropping as Wormtail shrank back into his robes and Maggie's sense of dread had now reached a new and dizzying height.

"And we brought a spare."

The words had barely pierced the air before another body fell to the floor at Maggie's side. Darting her eyes to the left, the young teacher caught a glimpse of familiar red hair before they met Ginny's worried glance.

"A Weasley…the youngest of the blood traitors."

Maggie immediately recognized the new voice as the man with the platinum hair who had been the first to confront her in the dormitories.

"And Harry Potter's girlfriend," the man continued, coming to stand behind them in front of his Master. "The blond is a Muggle who has been hiding out in secret at Grimmauld Place, so we have assumed that she must be someone rather important to the Order."

"A Muggle refugee and the keeper of Potter's heart?" Voldemort sneered, and Maggie could just imagine the evil smile creeping onto his pale lips.

"She is no refugee."

Without thinking, Maggie's head shot up when she heard the familiar voice of Severus Snape. Glaring at her with his cold, black stare, Maggie felt a chill run up her spine as she heard him say, "Her name is Maggie and she is a spy."

"A spy?" The platinum blond Death Eater asked with a snort. "A Muggle spy?"

"I didn't say that it made sense," Snape snapped, "All I know is that she possesses knowledge that Dumbledore was planning to use to his advantage."

"What kind of information would a Muggle have to be used against us?"

"That, I do not know."

Maggie's eyebrows knitted together as she wondered why the dark, greasy git was lying. Her existence had been well hidden from Severus Snape…Sirius and Remus had made sure of it…and their only encounter had been on the night that Sirius left for the Department of Mysteries. What had Dumbledore told him about her and her reasons for being at Grimmauld Place? Before she could give it another thought, he added, "What I do know is that she was once Potter's teacher and is now involved with Sirius Black."

"Isn't that sweet?" The Dark Lord drawled as Maggie cast her eyes back down to the floor. "We have the lovers of the infamous Harry Potter and his greatest defender at our disposal. Isn't it ironic how the late Albus Dumbledore was always harping on about the power of love and now love is going to be the reason for their ultimate downfall?"

A murmur of evil laughter went around the room as he continued, "Our role now…is to wait. Just like we did before, just as we always have. Power seems to find its own way in this world toward those who wish to seek it, the weak being unable to trace its natural path and therefore missing it altogether. It has been the case before, and I assure you it will be again. The Phoenix will be defeated and I will have my day. And then I will turn it into the forever night and rule for an eternity."

Looking down at the two women huddled together on the floor, he finally snarled, "Take them away. Their heroes will be here soon enough."

And as the darkened creatures looming above them began their trek toward her and Ginny, Maggie was hardly given a moment of time to consider the information just awarded to her. She tried to suck in a breath of air and found it came back out as shivering clouds of condensation, the air freezing as her head began to cloud, the rattling breath of the devil's creation piercing her bones like a fish to the hook. Her breath now caught up in her chest, breathing became a difficult necessity as she felt her heart freeze over in the cavity and any good feeling she'd ever had was drained out of her soul.

A dementor's kiss.

Maggie vaguely remembered Sirius' description and assertion that he wouldn't ever wish it upon another human soul as the dementor's descended upon her and Ginny. All that was left was a silent and hideous moaning as the hell-like creatures flanked them, their scale covered hands gripping Maggie's limp body at the elbows as she found herself being taken to yet another unknown location.

And as the darkness finally took her, the true reality of their situation began to set in. Everything that Sirius and the Order of the Phoenix had feared would happen to her was now happening.

And it was going to be worse than Maggie or any of them had ever imagined.


	29. Wrong

Merry Day after Christmas everyone! I hope all of my loyal readers had a wonderful holiday! Once again, thanks to all of you who have read so faithfully since the beginning of this story. You will never know how much that keeps me motivated! So to show my gratitude, I have **two** chapters for you today! Ch. 29 is just a short, keep the fic going chapter and Ch. 30 is where some more of where our story unfolds!

Enjoy...

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**Chapter Twenty Nine - Wrong **

Something was wrong.

Even before he opened his eyes, he sensed it, like a biting breeze on a still winter's morning, piercing the air with its horrifying chill. Sirius had only ever had a feeling like it once in his life…Halloween 1981.

The dark haired wizard pushed his head down further into the pillow, averting it from the rest of the world while the patients in the hospital wing around him continued to scream like an unattended babies, their caws sabotaging the little feeling of peace that remained within his brain. He rose and found his dressing gown at the foot of the bed where one of the nurses had dropped it the night before. His physical and mental exhaustion had taken him by the hand and led him to a restless sleep, full of the usual dreams and screams he had shared the night with before Maggie had come into his life. And, for some reason, he could have sworn the images were sharper now, as if something was approaching that had cleared up their reception.

The sense of dread was insurmountable.

"Harry," Sirius hissed, shaking his godson awake with more force than he had intended. The boy, along with so many other fighters, had fallen asleep against one of the walls of the Hogwarts infirmary and nodded to full alertness at Sirius' touch.

"What's wrong?" Harry mumbled, blinking quickly and reaching up to massage a crick out of his neck.

"Did Maggie and Ginny come back from the dormitories?" Sirius asked quickly, looking around the large room littered with students and teachers and Healers milling around. "Are they here?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted, quickly scanning the room with his eyes as well. "I fell asleep…"

"Something is wrong," Sirius interrupted, pulling Harry up so that they were standing toe to toe. "Hurry, we have to get to the Gryffindor dormitories."

"Maybe they just fell asleep," Harry suggested, but fell into step quickly with his godfather as they headed to the large oak doors that separated the hospital ward from the rest of Hogwarts. "I mean, we were all pretty tired and the beds in the girls' dormitories are a lot more comfortable than the stone floor I was sleeping on…"

"Where do the two of you think you are going?"

"We don't have time for you to play security guard, Remus," Sirius replied briskly, pushing his old friend out of the way so that they could exit the hospital ward. "We have to find Maggie and Ginny."

"Where are Maggie and Ginny?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow in concern as he fell into step with the other two.

"If we knew that, we wouldn't have to find them now would we?"

Remus could tell from edge in Sirius' voice that he was genuinely worried. Harry must have sensed it as well because he moved closer to his former professor and whispered, "Ginny and Maggie went to the Gryffindor dormitories to clean up and never came back…"

"Maybe they fell asleep," Lupin supplied, watching Sirius' back closely as he began to take the stairs two by two.

"That was my thought," Harry told him quietly, "but Sirius thinks something more is going on."

"Because something more is going on!" Sirius snapped, jerking himself around and glaring at the two of them. "Maggie and Ginny are smart and they knew that we were waiting for them to come back. And Maggie…she's the responsible one. A teacher, for Merlin's sake. She would have trailed to the ends of the earth as so not to abandon Ginny or Harry or any of her young charges. Everyone else in the castle is holed up in that hospital ward, so why the bloody hell aren't they?"

It was a rhetorical question, so Remus and Harry remained quiet as Sirius turned his back on them again and ascended the remaining stairs. At the top, he turned around again to face them and shouted, "I told you this was going to happen, Remus! I told you that we would be painting a target on her forehead! And now it has!"

"We don't know if anything has happened, Padfoot…" Lupin tried to reason with his old friend, but Sirius was having none of it.

It took them only moments to reach the Gryffindor common room and the sight of the portrait laying on the floor, blasted off its hinges, caused a new sense of dread to fill the stifling air around them.

"Maggie!" Sirius shouted, running through the portrait hole, "Ginny! Where are you? Answer me!"

But there was no answer from either woman. The common room was eerily quiet. No radio blaring its usual nonsense signaling that classes were over and free time had begun. No muffled, giggly discussions between two women who were newly and happily in love. No Gryffindor's. And certainly no Ginny or Maggie.

There was only silence as the three friends surveyed the relic of the common room. Furniture was turned over, banners were torn down, trophies were haphazardly thrown around the room. Whoever had been there was looking for something…and found Maggie and Ginny instead.

The furrow on Sirius' already creased brow deepened as he wandered over to the stairs and called up, "Maggie?"

Useless.

She wasn't there.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Where are you, Maggie?" Sirius whispered into the dark emptiness of the once familiar and comforting common room. "What's happened to you?"

"Sirius?"

Turning slowly, both Remus and Sirius pivoted to face Harry…who stood across the room, crestfallen, caressing a wand that he had picked up from the carpet.

"It's Ginny's." Harry whispered, never taking his eyes off of the thin, straight stick of reddish wood. "She wouldn't leave it behind…not on purpose."

Silence.

"Harry?" Remus asked quietly.

Silence.

"Harry... Harry!"

Nothing.

Remus' face instantly blanched as they studied the troubled, heartbroken teen-ager, puzzlement and fear mixing into one lethal cocktail that made Sirius sick to the bone.

Please no, anything but...

"He's got them, Sirius," Harry moaned painfully, looking around with a frantic glint in his eyes. "Voldemort's got them."


	30. Cold

**Back again for part II of this double chapter day! There is another A/N at the end of the chappie, in case anyone is confused! I hope you enjoy this one too...**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty - Cold**

_Consciousness slammed into her with enough force to rock her body. Pain came right alongside. Her head was throbbing, and when she opened her eyes all she could see was a curtain of haze, penetrated only by the darkness of the makeshift cell. She brought her shoulder to her face and smeared the blood it encountered away, wondering aimlessly how it had gotten there. The wind was wailing around her ears, chilling her deep and bringing the dim light of evening with it. _

She tried to wipe her eyes, but her arms would not work. She twisted a bit, realizing with sickening swiftness that her hands were tied behind her. The cords binding them cut against her wrists, slicing a bit deeper with every move. So she lay still again, forcing herself to breathe deep, licking her dry lips with her dry tongue.

A bright flash of light penetrated her closed eyelids and she opened them as if on command, her eyes darting from side to side in her dream-like state. A slight murmur erupted from her parted lips as the sound of metal boots struck old stone and her heart pounded to the rhythm of the vibration as the shadowy figure advanced toward her with his wand held securely within his clawlike hand.

She had heard him come in before she ever looked up and saw him standing there. The look on his face told her that he had not come into her dungeon for a friendly chat.

"It seems you have some visitors, Muggle." Voldemort snarled in his evil tone as he glanced toward the doorway. Maggie sharply inhaled when she saw them being marched into her cell. Sirius. Harry. Remus. Ron. Hermione. Tonks. Arthur. Fred and George.

What were they doing there? 

_It was then that she realized that she was alone on the floor, staring into the grim faces and the terrified eyes of the people she had come to love most in this world. The realization that they were going to die hit her in an instant and a scream rose up in her throat. _

"No!"

It came out of nowhere… the spray of light from his wand and the evil words upon his lips. 

"_Avada Kedavra."_

_Everything was in chaos, their screams filling the cell as they fell to the floor one by one. _

Flashes. Images invaded her dreams. Horror. Pain. Death. 

_Screams. Sobs. Time itself seemed jaded. Colours erupted from nothing. _

_Flash. _

_Ron and Hermione. _

_More screams. More flashes. _

_Remus. _

_Dead. They were dying because of her. To save her. Unwanted, unneeded. _

Flash. 

_Fred and George _

A bright light splashed through. 

_Someone yelling. Screaming. Crying. More light. _

_It seemed unnatural. Images of the people she loved as their lifeless bodies fell to the floor. _

_Flash. _

_Tonks. Arthur._

_Yelling. Screaming. _

_Flash._

_Harry. _

Trying to catch her hitching breath, Maggie lay her face against the cold, concrete wall and tried to close her eyes to the visions of death that were in front of her. But she couldn't look away. Her eyes focused and darted around the cell, taking in the sight of them all writhing in pain, their bodies bent and broken beyond repair. 

_Voldemort had exacted his revenge, just as he had promised he would. And he had used her to do it._

_Maggie could feel the darkness that was trying to swallow her up. Everyone was gone...Harry, the Weasley's, Hermione, Remus, Tonks...and only a feeling of hopelessness was there for her. _

_It was the darkness of loneliness she'd always been afraid of. _

"Magnolia."

Sirius' familiar voice penetrated the darkness and she glanced up to see him looking down at her, Voldemort's wand pointed at his chest. Emotion swallowed her up for a moment; fear, pain, sorrow at what she had left behind, dread of what was to come. Tears slicked her eyes and she tried to blink them away.

"This is your fault." Voldemort told her, the familiar evil smile creeping over his lips. "You didn't listen. You should have stayed behind…safe in Grimmauld Place. We wouldn't have found you there. They wouldn't have come to rescue you. But they did and now they have to die. Their blood is on your hands."

"Sirius!" Maggie cried, unable to move. Unable to help. 

_He was right. It was her fault. _

"And now it's time for all the Marauders to meet again in Hell…Avada Kedavra!"

It seemed to take Sirius an eternity to fall...his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards toward the stone floor, his eyes locked with hers. She saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on her lover's wasted, handsome face as his body finally hit the floor and his eyes closed for eternity.

They were all gone. Lying cold and motionless on the floor. Because they were trying to save her…

Whimpering, Maggie turned in her sleep and cried out. "No! Don't hurt them!" Her arms were suddenly free from their constrictions and she reached out. "Don't hurt them!"

Maggie's bare palm connected with the cold, stone floor and reality suddenly pushed through the haze that surrounded her as the realization that it was just a nightmare began to sink in. Sitting up and blinking her sleep laden eyes, Maggie shivered. She'd never felt this cold in her entire life. It was as if someone had sliced open her bones and poured in the ice from the darkest depths of Antarctica and further still. She didn't think she'd ever be warm again.

She found herself huddled underneath a threadbare blanket in what could only be described as a dungeon pit from hell. Her sister was the writer in her family, she was the practical one, but no amount of artistic ability would be able to personify its horror into words. She stared at its stone clad walls as damp drips of water descended from the roof and had to suppress a shiver. It was dark; she could barely see her hand inches before her face despite the presence of flickering candles in brackets along the walls. Maggie staggered to her feet and stumbled toward one of them, taken back for a moment by her weakened state as she was forced to lean against the wall for support.

Finally drawing herself to her full height and detaching the candle from it position on the hanging, she placed it on the floor in front of her and kneeled down in front of it. She let her head fall almost to her knees as all of her remaining energy was eaten away by the cold.

The candle was disappointing, but somehow explanatory. The light it emitted was pale and feeble, almost like a chip of blue ice as it sat and flickered on the wick. It didn't respond to the frostiness of Maggie's irregular breath as she held her hands over it begging for warmth, to no avail. Her fingertips remained freezing, feeling as though frostbite was ready to take its first snap at her limbs.

Dementors.

That's what she'd heard one of the guards call them as they came to free her and Ginny from their torture, the sweeping cold they seemed to impose on their victims lifting as they went, leaving in their wake the cold that already existed. It wasn't as if they'd done anything physical to harm her. Indeed all the evil presence had done was manhandle her into the cell, stepping back out to observe her from outside the bars as they continued their rattled excuse for breathing, sucking in anything good and warming that remained in Maggie's soul. With these hellish creatures guarding over her prison, she felt as if she'd never be happy again. She tried to concentrate on a happy memory - perhaps of her and her sister as children growing up on the bayou, or the day her nephew was born - and found them frighteningly gone.

Inaccessible.

Nonexistent.

It was as if these events had never happened, because all the negatives that came along with it were horribly prominent. She had heard Ginny's tormented screams in her head, along with the anxious ones of her own as she tried to help and found the young Weasley frighteningly out of reach. The screams reached a fever pitch as the creatures leaned in closer, sensing her fear almost and being enthralled by its sense, as if that was exactly what they fed off.

If hell existed, these were the gate keepers.

But as they left her alone to seek what little warmth she could, she found that a little voice inside of her seemed to be generating on it's own. She closed her eyes for a second, concentrating on that inner monologue that seemed so reassuring in its tones.

Sirius.

He told her to hold on. Keep the faith.

Faith.

That was something the presence could never take from her. It was a faith that said someone would come. That someone would risk themselves for her. It was a feeling that filled her with the utmost dread, putting people directly in harm's way just to save her own sorry soul. But it was something she would have to rely on if she was to keep going.

Ginny.

Ginny had come running when she called back in the dormitories and was dragged into this nightmare right along with Maggie. She had been the first to risk herself and was now paying the consequences. But, where was the young redhead? Maggie's eyes scanned the darkness for her friend and fellow captor, but knew instinctively that she was alone in her cell.

The blond teacher sighed as she realized that she had finally given up trying to understand the necessity of her imprisonment. She could feel the grime begin to creep and settle on her face, her delicate pores beginning to fill with such dirt and dust her face felt weighed down with its sinful presence. She could barely be bothered to open her eyes.

She groaned a little, a hunger pain slicing clean through her stomach as she heard the approaching footsteps of a guard, bringing only what she hoped to be breakfast. She sat up a little to watch the hooded figure linger at the door of her cell. He paused in the shadow's depth, almost as if he was considering an unconventional move before he tapped the lock once with his roughly formed wand, leaving a shower of sparks in its wake as the door swung open coldly for him to lay down the indistinguishable meal.

Maggie looked up at the figure desperately for any sign of life or humanity beyond the black folds that held his identity. This was the closest she'd got to human contact since her imprisonment. He held the familiar shape of the species, most certainly, as arms were vaguely visible under the sea of black cloth as they fell back into place at the guard's tender sides. Definitely different from the kinsmen of the devil who were sapping away at her sanity. In the emotionless air that continued to supply her with the most wretched of existences, the guard seemed to fill it with his own. Obedience, straight obedience which Maggie got the sense was not all that it seemed. The darkness had certainly made her perceptive. She stared up at him, almost challenging him not to stare back under the disguise of his hood as if it were all a game. The guard turned away.

"Wait..."

"I'm not allowed to talk to you," said a familiar voice, somewhat detached from the physical being in the darkness of the cell. He had obviously sensed her desire for communication that poured out of every inch of her face, and cringed at the power it awarded her stare. "I wouldn't risk my life talking to you. The master…"

"Snape?" Maggie hissed, suddenly recognizing the voice. "Severus Snape?"

"Be quiet, you stupid girl," Snape breathed back wearily, struggling almost against his "master's" chains as the desire to stand up against them became as apparent as Maggie's fear. She took a brave step toward him as he hissed, "The Dark Lord…"

"The Dark Lord isn't here to see," she said, timidly.

Maggie could feel his frown upon her as if she was too feeble minded to fully comprehend. "He sees everything, Magnolia. The Dark Lord has eyes everywhere, if he so desires it. A concept, of course, an inferior like you could never understand..."

The sparks of a normal conversation, relatively normal under the circumstances, seemed to be enough to ignite Maggie's sense of injustice and outrage. She ignored the fact he knew her name, the fact that Sirius never trusted him, and even the fact that he had killed Dumbledore and felt compelled to spit back...

"Inferior?" she said through weakened, gritted teeth. "Inferior? Is that because I am a Muggle?"

"It is irrelevant," he said automatically, as if he'd been taught to ignore questions and lap up orders. "And as for your inferiority, that is apparent in your inability to recognize your true status."

"Which is?"

What was intriguing Maggie most at this point in the conversation was how forced the professor's vocabulary appeared to be. It was as if all this talking was a struggle, an unnatural form of expression, wanting to lapse into a sequence of normality that the Dark Lord had forbidden. Like a child wanting to escape their ignorance. It was this that gave her the strength to push.

He blinked at her in the darkness, as if the line of establishment should have already been defined. "It is simple," he informed her bluntly. "You are just a pawn. The first to be taken. The first to fall. You have no importance."

He turned to leave, his cloak billowing out behind him as he twisted painfully on the spot, allowing his obligations to get the better of his nature as he moved to isolate Maggie's once again. But Maggie's own quavering notes appeared to delay his departure.

"Whose pawn are you?''

Snape paused to consider this, but instead avoided its answer. But it was obvious Maggie was beginning to hit the raw nerves. He avoided her penetrating eye as her expression demanded more of a valid explanation. He continued to ignore it.

"Eat your soup."

She was pushing him too far, for either a wall was going to crumble or a dangerous rage rise from the depths. Neither seemed appealing as the situation tittered on the delicate edge of security. Severus Snape hissed silently under his breath, almost snake-like in its bitterness as he kicked her food tray towards her, letting it slide across the freezing stone floor. Most of the contents of the soup bowl was laid to waste as it slopped over the sides and onto the ground, staining it with an unnatural red.

"Where is Ginny?" Maggie asked quickly, before he disappeared. "Is she alright?"

He stared at her for what felt like an eternity and in that silence, it seemed the air was electrified with a peaceful understanding that their positions in the world weren't all too far apart. Pawns to the unknown, unwilling possibly.

"The Weasley girl is unharmed…an unimportant pawn in a bigger game, the same as you." he told her coldly.

"Thank you," Maggie said suddenly, piercing the air with an unexpected expression of gratitude. The greasy git seemed lax for a moment, trying to make sense of the feeling behind the words before she quickly added. "Why are you helping me?"

"That is not for you to know." Snape replied sharply. "There is no reason to. I doubt this acquaintance will last that long for either of us."

Maggie shivered at his sense of pronounced doom, but chose to ignore it. And then Snape was gone, leaving Maggie alone again with the cold.

* * *

**A/N - In case it was not clear, the section of this chapter in italics was Maggie's nightmare...not reality. Everyone is still alive and well! Just wanted to clear that up in case it was not obvious in the writing!**


	31. Unlikely Heroes

**Chapter Thirty One - Unlikely Heroes**

_Many Hours later…_

Somewhere else in the prison, someone was screaming.

A blood curdling scream, one of complete devastation, desperation and pure and utter torment. It was the type of inhumane sound that caused people standing by to plug up their ears, wrench out a pain of their own and try to soothe out the agony that caused it. But deep in another cell, surrounded by the torment in the darkness of her mind, there was no such peace for Maggie.

She shuddered awake. No one was around. Time and space seemed completely alien entities to her at that moment, the floor unfamiliar below her aching fingertips as she struggled to her feet, her whole body shivering with a sense of dread and unknown doom. Was it all a dream?

No, she told herself said firmly, it was a choice.

She walked slowly, one foot tenderly in front of the other until she reached the bars of her prison, freezing metal poles that encased within their grace her freedom and her sanity. She enclosed a bar in the palm of her hand, feeling its coldness secure itself to her flesh like ice, sticking right there and refusing to let go. Refusing to let her go.

And then she began to think.

Thinking was always a dangerous occupation. She had spent too much time thinking in the past, and that realization alone pushed her to the edge of madness, having to reconsider every little step she'd made and analyze its purpose.

Maggie breathed out again, the air that escaped easily defined from the dungeon draught by its warmth and vibrancy upon her paling skin. It was a shaky sigh, one that personified the doubt that eclipsed her mind at that moment. Everything depended on her.

So she listened.

She didn't know what she was listening for, but it was the only prompt she ever relied on. The whistling of the wind was often a muse, whispering ideas into her receptacle brain that she'd long to get down on paper before they evaporated into the unstable air, rejoining the natural forces that caused such rage in inspiration. But the wind was whispering fear. It whisked around the stone walls of whatever abode she was in like a circus trainer whipping the bear, causing moans of anguish that didn't seem possible in the human sphere of ability. She wondered from whom they originated, and felt her stomach churn as it dawned on her that Ginny was down there somewhere too.

Ginny.

Brave, confused, captured Ginny.

The young girl, who was no longer a girl because of this ordeal, had just found the love that she was looking for with the only boy she'd ever really wanted. And now that love was going to be used against them all.

Maggie remembered for a moment the cruel, heartless sight the dark lord bestowed upon her mind of Ginny, her friend's blazing red hair smeared horribly across her face, which was pale with the effort of existing in a circumstance that neither of them were prepared for. The young Weasley was sharing this with her, possibly just feet away. Separated by stone. She was close.

Close. The thought suddenly dawned on her.

"Ginny?"

The loudness of her voice was startling for an instant, in the context of nothing being able to halt its echoes as the sound of her cry gradually filled the empty cavern. She held her breath, not daring to release it again in case she missed the smallest of replies, the smallest of mummers, of hope.

_Tap_.

Her heart ceased to beat for an instant, too aware of every creak to take in the necessity of living. She listened again.

_Tap tap tap._ Pause. _Tap tap tap._

Maggie smiled. A broad, wide grin that wasn't the emblem of unsuitable happiness in the face of such uncertainty, but something of justice. Something of a job well done. Something was going to work.

Morse code.

She and Ginny had perfected it during the long hours they had spent at Grimmauld Place when Maggie first arrived. The young girl, like her red-haired father, was fascinated by the intricate code that Maggie's own army veteran father had taught her as a child. Their coded conversations through the paper wall between their bedrooms at Grimmauld Place often spread their conversations well into the night.

And now the darkness had eaten them again. She held out a finger that was encircled with a ring and held it against the metal bar.

_Tap tap tap._

They would work it out.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Maggie had been tapping for what felt like days.

She couldn't be sure that it was really Ginny, but she kept answering nonetheless. She couldn't be sure whether she knew exactly what she was saying to the tapper taht answered her, the difference between save our souls and sausages for dinner seeming so subtle in the darkness of the cells.

But she had a feeling.

There was some underlying tone in the taps, something that depended on their sound in a way she could never comprehend. She felt almost reckless, flouting her talent for translating the sounds into words right in front of a captor who could snap her body in half without a second thought. It was a power.

Snape hadn't been back recently. He had visited regularly to bring her meals but he always left her alone at night, although his departures had been growing steadily later as the time wore painfully on. Some small part of the lonely man seemed to despise her sight, his lip occasionally snarling in distaste at her feeble state as if it were the proper way to behave. But then she would meet his eye again and the facade would fade into the dark, and he would talk to her. This had come as something of a revelation, but she welcomed the sound nevertheless. It wasn't ever about anything in particular, as he was always careful to avoid any questions about his life outside the prison or which side of this war he was truly on.

But there was more to Severus Snape than Harry or Sirius suspected…there must be. His shoulders failed to give anyone a sturdy impression, their broadness portraying a strength that was supposed to scare her into submission. He would try, but along with the snarl, little more than eye contact would melt it away like butter in the sun. He seemed torn by his allegiances, but something nipped at Maggie that the former Potions Master was able to make up his own mind.

She was tapping anyway. She ussed the face of her watch, useless in the dark, to produce a sound slightly higher in pitch to the one she longed to hear in return. She was able to use her spare hand to muffle its ring for short or long tones, each sequence of taps making up a precious letter in their codified language of hope. She silently thanked her beloved father for making his children learn the code that was ingrained into him in the army. As children, she and her brothers and sisters had used their knowledge to play games and share secrets, but it was turning out to be more invaluable than Maggie had ever imagined. Something so childish in youth being so useful in age.

"What are you doing?"

She hadn't even noticed Snape enter, for now he stood and pressed his face almost against the bar she was tapping, his breath hot and likely sticky against her frozen, well-worn hand. His voice was blank, a little like his expression which she still had no idea about in its shelter of black hood. It put her more on edge that she didn't know whether he was outraged or just plain curious. He could have been both. But he wasn't going to give anything away.

But the taps did. She could hear the reply, a little frantic, _tap tap tap_…Ginny desperately asserting why Maggie had been cut off in mid sentence.

_Are you ok? What's happening over there? Are you safe?_

Snape was listening. His eyes narrowed a little, the chips of ice become like icicles in the dark, concentrating with an expression that could have been just plain interest or murder. He was listening, and muttering dangerously under his breath. Maggie instantly backed off, covering up her watch with a tattered sleeve as she looked at him with dismay, with uncertainty of his reaction. She had already learned that he wasn't a man of many words, those that were spoken only a recent revelation and very carefully chosen and phrased. He never said anything without some form of meaning.

"What are you doing, Muggle?" he repeated softly into the dark air.

"Nothing," she replied shortly, nervously, not wishing to reveal any more than she already had. But he hadn't taken any notice. He was watching her with more intensity than anyone had in her life. Her scolding mother, her sister, not even her beloved Aunt Sarah had greeted her with such a flash of indescribable emotion sweeping across their eyes. It unnerved her even more.

Especially as he stepped forward and decisively opened the cell door.

"Get up," he barked.

Maggie, despite her apparent lack of energy, bounded straight onto her feet, wavering a little as they seemed so unused to the weight after days on the dungeon floor. This didn't deter Snape one little bit. He was under his own instruction.

"Come with me."

She didn't dare to argue. She felt herself stumble as she followed the dark shape out of the cell. It felt odd to move her limbs, which in their own mind had submitted to being stationary in the cell and were beginning to rather enjoy it. They didn't appreciate sharp, sudden movement of her shifting her weight away from the isolation of the room. She followed. It occurred to her that Snape didn't even walk like a man…he remained slightly slouched, uncertain of his movements as they walked along the corridor, flanked by her chains as they chinked with every step. Severus Snape was almost timid.

"In here," he barked, opening another large oak door that looked into the abyss of metal bars beyond. He flicked his wand and the bars evaporated. But Maggie didn't move.

"Five minutes, no more. You're not worth more than that."

He shut the door behind him, but Maggie was certain that he was still standing in the corridor outside. She sighed heavily. The room seemed darker possibly than her own, as if there was no need for light. Was this some form of punishment? He hadn't lashed out at her for what she was doing. She wasn't even sure if he knew what she'd been up to. The purpose of the exercise seemed entirely lost in the plot. What was he up to?

The answer came soon enough.

"Who's there?"

She could feel her nerves screaming with delight. "Ginny?"

"Right here, Maggie. I'm all right..."

And as Maggie fumbled in the dark and brought her into a hug, she knew that somehow it was true.

Maggie and Ginny bathed in each other's relief for as long as each of them possibly could. Maggie wasn't sure who was comforting who, both overcome with large, inaudible sobs that were created upon their reunion. She didn't care that the room was cold. She didn't care that all her available energy was gradually seeping out of her legs and onto the frozen floor below her. She didn't care that she didn't honestly think she'd survive to smell the dawn. Ginny was safe, breathing and alive. The Dark Lord and his Death Eaters hadn't killed her. She didn't deserve all this..they were both being used as pawns in a fight that neither of them had started. It wasn't their battle.

"I'm sorry, Maggie..." Ginny was muttering between desperate breaths. "I'm so sorry..."

"What about?" Maggie replied, one hand grasping a handful of Ginny's red locks just to assure that she really was there. "It's my fault we're in this mess..."

"I dropped my wand when they grabbed me..." Ginny continued, looking sadly into Maggie's ice-like irises and getting nothing but understanding from the older woman. "When you screamed for help, I wasn't ready. I wasn't prepared. I forgot all that Harry taught us in D.A. practices and was so scared when I saw that Malfoy had you…when they overpowered us…"

"Shhh," Maggie soothed, hugging her friend even closer. "It was a surprise attack. They were looking for a way to get to Harry and found us…nothing was going to stop them from taking us once they realized who we were. If you had fought back with your wand, they simply would have disarmed you and made things worse." Shaking her head sadly, she added, "If it weren't for me, we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm the one to blame, Ginny. We never should have come to Hogwarts in the first place…Sirius and your mum were right. I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have been smarter. I should have known better. I should have acted like the grown up."

"I didn't exactly dissuade your efforts," Ginny whispered, clearly in distress at the idea of the pair in mortal danger. "We're in this together."

"There's lots about this that I don't understand..." she said, her voice now hoarse from emotion…relief, joy, guilt, fear. "Probably lots that I will never understand. But I want to. I really want to. I've fallen in love with the wizarding world and its inhabitants, and if I can do anything to prevent it from falling into the hands of that, that _thing_..." Maggie shuddered, finding herself afraid of uttering the name herself, "...then I'll do it. I'd do it a million times over."

"Be thankful, Maggie," said Ginny quietly. She was trembling too. "The only person to face Voldemort and escape with their life has been Harry…up until this point. Something much bigger is going on here."

"Harry has to kill Voldemort…or be killed by him." Maggie whispered, taking Ginny's face in her hands as the girl's eyes widened. "We have been captured to lead Harry into a trap…so that the Dark Lord can meet him in a final showdown."

"How do you know this?" Ginny asked, trying desperately to keep her bottom lip from trembling. "Harry never said a word about this to me…"

Both women jumped back away from each other as the door to the room swung open. Maggie was vaguely aware of the warmth of light now sweeping over her chilly legs, the burst of life it seemed to provide her limbs being as sudden and unexpected as any electric shock. But Ginny stood stiffly, afraid.

"It's okay..." Maggie said soothingly, "It's only Snape. He's..."

"Professor Snape?" Ginny hissed, suddenly unafraid as she began pulling out of Maggie's grasp. "He killed Dumbledore…there is nothing okay about him!"

"Ginny, please listen…" Maggie tried to calm the girl down, but Ginny was enraged. "He's helping us. He brought me to you. He's not what he seems…"

If Snape was surprised by this statement, he showed no sign of it. Instead he stood like an impressive shadow in the doorway, his almost gangly figure being amplified many, many times in the light and seeming almost intimidating.

But Maggie had seen the gaze underneath the hood. She knew there was more to it than that. And he knew it, too.

"Come on," he said abruptly, something mischievous almost underlying his false, harsh tones. "It's time."

And with that, he took Maggie firmly by the elbow and led her to the corridor outside, the heavy, oak door slamming firmly shut and cutting Maggie off from the invisible darkness for good. She gripped Ginny's hand tight, so as to be sure she would never be separated from her again.

"This is how he's helping us?" Ginny whispered fiercely. "By taking us back to face Voldemort?"

Maggie was silent, but she could've sworn they were walking slower than before, each step slowly measured as if Snape wanted her to be far more aware of them. Relying on her skills as an Empath and evidence from the grip he had shackled on her arm, Maggie thought he seemed a little scared himself. He was trembling. It was as if he wasn't any more than a little boy, given the responsibilities of a man. Entrusted with her life. He suddenly pulled her up to a stop and took out his wand, his pale slate like eyes never once leaving her face.

"Excuse me," he said, tapping the shackles once with the tip of his wand and allowing then to disintegrate around her wrists. "I didn't mean for that to happen. I'm not to be trusted with the Dark Arts, it seems..."

Maggie froze, unable to pass any form of judgment on his actions. What was he playing at? He simply looked at her slyly in return, pushing a lock of his greasy black hair out of his face with his other hand. She continued to stare as he leaned in closer to her puzzled and snow-like face.

"The Order knows you are here. I sent a patronus to Remus…whether they believed it or not is another matter." Snape told them coldly, nodding toward a corridor to their right. "If you go through the thirteenth door on the left, it will take you to the servant's quarters. Gargoyle knocker. The password is Amadeus. You will be able to get outside through a tunnel off the cellar storage kitchen. If you hurry, Harry needs never to come inside the mansion and place himself in danger. But if your rescue party chose not to believe me and you must fend for yourselves, take cover in the woods beyond the back gate and have Ginny send a patronus to Harry…that one they will believe."

And he made to slink back down the corridor to simply leave them to it. But Maggie had learned in the past few days to certainly not leave anything to chance. She wanted answers. She grabbed Snape's sleeve and tugged him back towards her. But before Maggie could speak, Ginny took matters into her own hands…

'Why are you doing this?' the young Gryffindor hissed quietly without a hint of anger in her voice. More like concern. "I thought you were one of them. You told them that Maggie was a Muggle spy. You killed Dumbledore, spent years torturing Harry and Neville for fun, and betrayed the Order…"

"Who says that was my role?" Snape muttered, narrowing his eyes at his former student and arching an eyebrow with an air of mystery that made Maggie want to thump him. "Things are not always as they seem, Miss Weasley. Your encounter with Tom Riddle should have taught you that. Now go on, get out of here."

As Maggie began to breathe again, she whispered, "Thank you."

He turned swiftly on his foot and disappeared into the dark depths of the opposite corridor, leaving Maggie and Ginny gaping at him and each other. But they didn't have time to take it all in.

Then she and Ginny ducked skillfully out of sight. The Muggle and the student had a rescue mission to complete now…their own.


	32. Breaking Out, Breaking In

**Chapter Thirty Two – Breaking Out, Breaking In **

Maggie and Ginny were on the prowl. Maggie had a firm grip around Ginny's wrist, leading her frantically through one passageway after another, each one as dark to her as the cell had been. The only way to go was up. And Maggie wasn't going to let anything as insignificant as a severe lack of magic get in her way.

Maggie hadn't seen a window for her entire stay in the lair. She couldn't imagine the place with a view, a real location with people looking in as well as out upon the world. She just couldn't see it in her mind. She would suppose later that it was because the whole thing seemed so unreal, so completely alien to her being that her imagination just rejected it. It just seemed so utterly dark that there was no possibility of the building being basked in the glorious light of day. The pureness of the sunbeams would seem wasted on this establishment. It didn't deserve the light. Even the flaming torches that guided the way were flickering, struggling to survive against the dark and dying to be extinguished. All she could concentrate on was what was in front of her, and right now it was their escape. But she just didn't know how she'd get it.

As soon as they could, they made their frantic dash…frantic in Maggie's mind, at least. For their physical actions seemed cool and calculated, darting from one pillar to another in a perfectly planned route. They didn't have time to think, and they certainly didn't have time to doubt themselves. Twelve doors, eleven doors, ten... hide. Breathe. Start again. Nine doors, eight... they just kept moving.

Just five doors away, the torches flickered off. Then they flickered on again. In the interim, the shadows became a useful friend and the two women sought their shelter again to avoid another oncoming group of Death Eaters. Maggie only caught a snippet of their conversation while she held her breath, her spine becoming a quiver as they came too close for comfort.

"... I thought everyone was accounted for?"

"Then we've probably got intruders, sir. We'll need to send someone up right away…"

They were gone and Maggie and Ginny continued. Four doors, three, two, one. They were there. No one around. Ginny leaned against the door, muttered _'Amadeus' _and the lock broke away in her hands.

The servants quarters were also in the fist of darkness, its grip tightening as the lights outside flickered once more. Maggie froze as the thunder of feet went past, like stampeding elephants from the front of danger they stumbled past the door, more frantic, and she breathed again as the threatening noise faded.

"Snape said that we could get out through a corridor off the storage kitchen…" Maggie began, looking around the dark and unfamiliar room. But her face fell as Ginny voiced the thoughts running through Maggie's head.

"There are three corridors off the storage kitchen."

Maggie felt like screaming in pure frustration as she shoved her hands through her blond locks and began to pace. Her breathing then became slightly erratic, panicky even as she paced the room, her footsteps doing little for the nerves of her companion. Ginny grasped her head with a similar level of distress, her hands clutching desperately at her hair, feeling knotted and dull after days spent in the dark. She sighed again herself.

"I think we need to stop for a minute and really think this through," Maggie said, regaining an alarming amount of clarity with the pause.

"I think we're slightly past that." Ginny deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I know." Maggie retorted sharply. "But that doesn't change a thing." Glancing around their unfamiliar surroundings, she asked, "What have we got in here with us?"

Maggie could hear Ginny begin to rummage, her hands opening cupboards, drawers and closets and shutting them again in vain. She could feel her energy seeping out with every unsuccessful opening.

"Nothing, Maggie, " Ginny was saying, "This obviously hasn't been used as a kitchen in a long time. There is nothing at all in here that can help us. A few torture bits, some keys... some parchment...wait a minute... "

Maggie could barely utter a reply before she felt something come over her. Material, thick and heavy, seemed to float then descend upon her face, closing her in its darkened depths as she struggled to pull them off. But still she managed to smile, and keep her reaction to a small and muffled humph.

"Put it on," said Ginny as she pulled the robes of her own down over her dirt-ridden jeans.

Maggie pulled gingerly at the material until it fell right into place. The robes cascaded right down to her dainty feet, covering the tips of her shoes so she almost floated as she strode across the room. She almost liked the feeling: powerful, superior. She supposed that was the purpose. She suppressed a tiny shudder and then pulled the hood up over her head. Then she gasped.

"What?"

But Maggie couldn't reply, for the transformation she saw in Ginny was horrifically outstanding. She was holding the sleeves of the robes together like a muff, her hands becoming invisible in the mass of midnight black. But it was what it did to her face that scared Maggie. The hood hung low across it, obscuring all her features in the darkness of its shade making her lack of face as intimidating as she'd first found Snape and the other Death Eaters.

"Maggie, what's the matter?"

She managed to shake herself to rights and replied, "Nothing, it's nothing. Come on - at least we're a bit less conspicuous now."

"But which corridor do we go down?"

Maggie shook her head and bit her lower lip as she answered, "I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine."

The two women shrugged at each other, turned toward their left, and stepped out into the closest hallway and proceeded to stride along. Maggie was holding herself much steadier now, as if the disguise of one of them awarded her the confidence and comforts it gave to the Death Eaters. Nobody batted an eyelid and they just held their breath and walked.

The pair lurked in the shadows of the hall, watching for passers by. More people than ever before were moving in packs of twos and threes, stalking the tunnels with their black cloaks billowing behind them in an impressively controlled breeze that wasn't even there. As if they knew exactly what Maggie and Ginny were trying to do and were blocking their path rather than confront their wrath themselves. They pushed themselves further against the wall as a particularly vicious pair strode past them with authority. They didn't even notice. They held an air of excitement as if something was going to happen, something amusingly evil that it made them cackle all the way down the hall.

And Maggie didn't like that one little bit.

"In here!" Ginny hissed quietly, pulling Maggie's wrist sharply as they dove into a side closet to avoid a group of oncoming Death Eaters. The cloaked men passed the two women without a second glance as the door closed to seal them in and Ginny and Maggie could breathe for a minute.

"This is madness!" Maggie heaved, letting her shoulders sag a little as the tension of being on the prowl eased temporarily. But it could not be irradiated from her voice. "Pure and utter madness. We could be stuck here for days before we find our way out of this place! It's worse than the London underground…"

The corridor seemed continuous, and showed no sign of letting them ascend. But still they walked, for there was nothing else left to do. The flames flickered from here to there, muffled shouts echoing through the stone and mud-filled walls not straying them from their path but simply blotted out of their minds, for they had to focus on the path at hand. Escape was the only option. And with every step the fear increased, until it became unbearable.

_**oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**_

_A few miles south of the Malfoy Manor…_

"How can we be sure that they are actually being held at the Malfoy Mansion?"

Although it was Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin that gave voice to the question, there was not a single member of the rescue party who wasn't thinking the same thing.

"Severus' patronus…" Remus began, but was quickly cut off by Harry.

"Professor Snape is a Death Eater!" The young man hissed as a reminder to his friend and former professor. "This is a trap."

"Of course it is a trap," Sirius interjected, his eyes darting around to take in their surroundings. "But we have no other choice. If Ginny and Maggie are being held captive beneath Malfoy Manor, then we have to go inside." Squinting a bit and glancing up at the crescent moon that had risen over sleepy Wiltshire, he nodded ahead of him and instructed, "We need to go half a click Northeast…through that wood."

Harry could have sworn he heard Hermione swallow sharply, and he could clearly see her point. He followed the gaze of the group to the woods that lay beyond them, the tall Scott Pines intermitted with ancient, twisted oaks that made five steps into the trees seem like five steps in the wrong direction. It looked dark, damp and severely in decay.

"Well, I don't know what you were expecting," Sirius retorted sharply, surveying the looks of dismay that were evident on the faces of the three teenagers before him…Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Aside from Harry, it was not exactly his idea of a crackpot rescue team. "I warned you that this wasn't going to be a picnic in the park or some grand, noble adventure. And I gave you the chance to stay behind." Raising his eyebrow at them and snorting in annoyance, he added, "In fact, I believe that I gave you many chances."

His only response were three steely gazes that stared back at him with resolve, so he shook his head and muttered, "Alright then…keep close together and follow my lead."

"It might not be a good idea to use our wands from now on…" said Remus, seeing Hermione pull her own into view and begin to mutter _'Lumos'_. She put it away sheepishly. "We don't know what charms and protections that You-Know-Who's got rigged up. We don't want to take any chances."

Ron looked paler than was humanely possible. He shoved both hands in his pockets and scrunched them into fists, trying to shake off the shiver that began in the base of his spine and tingled their way down to his enclosed fingertips. Hermione didn't look much better, squeezing Ron's shoulder in a pact of assurance but looking in need of such comfort herself. They were scared. They'd never really had the time to be afraid before…not while looking for the sorcerer's stone, the Chamber of Secrets, an escaped Sirius, or the Department of Mysteries. They'd had to concentrate on the task at hand and put their emotions to one side. But this time, with the real possibility they'd be coming face to face with the man whose name they were even afraid to utter, their fears were being brought to the fore. And as the adults moved to start the long trek into the wood, Harry voiced their apprehension.

"Look," he said quietly, so the elders couldn't hear. "I know you're scared. I'm scared myself. Every time I've come anywhere near that man I've barely escaped with my life."

"I know…" said Hermione softly, her lip beginning to quiver. "We know, Harry, but…"

"I don't want to put you through this," he said, suddenly decisive. "I don't want to be dragging your corpses back through these woods at the end of the night. If that were to happen, to any of us, I don't know if I could live with myself. This is my battle - Ginny is my girlfriend and Maggie is my teacher. I understand if you want to turn around and go. I'm not going to hold it against you. Take the chance and get out of here."

"But…" Ron began, looking rather shocked, but Harry didn't give him a chance to finish.

"Look," Harry snapped as he spun angrily on his heel to face them. "It's me who's got the blood on his hands. Cedric's blood. Mr Crouch's. Mad Eye Moody's. The Muggle's. My parents." He gulped a little but didn't waver. "They all died because of me. Because they thought I was worth it. And if I'm going to prove to them that they died for a worthy cause, I can't let any more people join them…" He paused and took an everlasting breath. "I'm going to help Sirius and the others to get Maggie and Ginny out of there. Alone."

"Ginny is my sister…" Ron scolded in a very Hermione-like fashion. "You're not going to get rid of us that easily." He straightened up, shook off his fear and stared Harry straight in the eye. "You never will. We've come this far, and we're not letting you go just yet. You're going to need as much help as you get, even with Sirius, Remus, and Tonks around. We're coming with you, whether we've got your approval or not. Tough luck. Like it or lump it, we're going in together."

Harry shook his head, a disbelieving smile edging across his face as they hurried to catch up with the others.

They walked in single file, Sirius at the head with Remus and Tonks very close behind. Harry led the second pack with Ron and Hermione hanging back slightly as if they were scared of Harry himself, or even his intentions. The air was full of apprehension, being exhaled from their lungs like a poisonous gas that would rob them of will if retained for too long. They had to expel it. This had to be done, and better to do it all together than leave any one of them in the cold.

What little moonlight there was infiltrated the canopy above in tiny beams, but its silvery glow was being muffled by the mist that had chosen that hour to harshly descend upon them. It was almost like the wood was holding them in its fist. Its silence closed around them as the grip began to tighten, cutting off all circulation of certainty as if its veins were set against their favor. They slowed. Every trunk and twisted root seemed to set a trap, a misguided track like the deadly lines of fortune that dictated a life from the palm of the hand. But the forest was to blame: it would never give them a chance. Every snap of a twig or branch caused the flow to halt into paralysis. It was almost as bad as the Forbidden Forest. Almost. At least in the forest there were people on their side. They could expect Hagrid to come bounding through at any moment, Fang at his heels, making up for presence what the hound lacked in bravery. They could trust the Centaurs, for they've seen it in the stars. Even the spiders gave them half a chance to survive. But out here, in the middle of southwestern England, they were truly on their own.

Harry noticed a subtle change in foliage as they strode deeper into the trees. The spread of the leaves, which were beginning to reach their limits having spread right to the forest floor, now found themselves exiled to the uppermost branches. As if the floor itself was poisoned. It became muddier, water beginning to seep into his ancient trainers and soaking his socks in a most unpleasant way. At least Hermione had the sense to wear suitable footwear. Her hiking boots, the mark of a country girl, made easy work of the unfamiliar terrain as she side stepped the various twisted roots like the most elegant of professional dancers. Ron, on the other hand, was like Neville Longbottom when he got out the wrong side of bed. If there was something to trip over, it was guaranteed to make Ron stumble. Hermione had eventually given a frustrated sigh and grabbed Ron's elbow to give him a little guidance. At first he'd shrugged it off, too manly to be helped by the frizzy-haired girl, but after he almost allowed his face to end up on the mud, he'd finally accepted her aid. The scene had made Harry smile.

Then the trees had died completely, along with their progress. Sirius had taken a step back in haste, bumping straight into Tonks who peered over his shoulder, strangely intrigued by the sight that lay in front of them

"We're here," he said sharply. "Malfoy Manor."

"Are you serious?" mouthed Remus, voicing the opinion of everyone in the vicinity.

"This, Moony, is how the other half lives."

The entrance to the grounds of the mansion was grand indeed. A high, manicured yew hedge bordered the driveway on both sides. The driveway was perfectly straight, running through wrought-iron gates and straight up to the front door. The centerpiece of the ornate gardens in front was a massive, stone fountain and albino peacocks roamed the lawns.

"Typical," Tonks spat, almost angry as she spun round to address then all. "Absolutely typical. Of all the places on the earth Voldemort could have set up his hide away, and he chooses to flaunt his presence in the face of the Ministry here in the lap of luxury. I really should have known...'

Harry now looked at the landscape up ahead and plainly saw the devastation having too much of a good thing caused. He couldn't hear the birds in the perfectly manicured trees and it hardly looked inviting. It looked frankly dangerous. But that had never held the Marauders back before.

"So what exactly are we looking out for?" he said to his Godfather, who was taking a particularly keen interest in an extremely dead tree on the outskirts of the property.

"How about a little sign post saying '_Death Eater's Lair: Trespassers will be Tortured?_'" suggested Ron.

This earned him a playful smack from the young woman on his arm who was in no mood for teenaged mockery. But Harry could see his point. He was merely covering up his nerves with comedy.

"OK, Ron, time to calm down a bit…'

This, in view of the situation, was entirely the wrong thing to say. If Hermione was so severely shaken that her co-ordination suddenly became an attribute she lacked, it was nothing compared to the emotions that were racing across the face of the youngest Weasley male. He looked positively distraught.

"How can you say that?" he hissed, his panic manifesting itself through gritted teeth. "How can you say that? Voldemort's in there…with Maggie and Ginny! I think if we have ever earned the right to panic, now is a perfect opportunity."

"We've come this far," Remus reminded them, ignoring Ron's outburst as he stepped gingerly out of the wood and began leading the little group toward their destination. "We can't turn back now."

They traveled under the cover of darkness and in complete silence until the reached the large, stone monstrosity that was the Malfoy Mansion.

"I think we've found our entrance," Hermione said suddenly, feeling her way along the outside of the building until she stumbled upon a door.

She had found an entrance all right, but the rescue party got the sense that it wasn't authorized. For one thing, the area around them was deserted and didn't look much used. The footprints they'd made upon their arrival were the first fresh ones for months, quickly disguised with a concealment charm before she dived into the shadows to contemplate her next move.

Sirius and Remus looked remarkably impressed with Hermione, and awarded her a look of commendation. Ron was nodding along with them all, but his face suddenly blanched as he realised the connotations of Hermione's words. He looked at her, startled.

"So you're expecting to just... I mean, the plan is to simply walk right into You-Know-Who's little secret den?"

"As Lupin said, Ron…" said Harry, stepping forward. "It's too late to turn back now. Ginny's in there. So, come on."

Harry turned to his two best friends to give them the look they dreaded. The questioning look. The glance that had already been in evidence that night, asking their commitment and offering them escape without consequence. They knew Harry would never hold it against them, even if they dropped and ran as far away as fast as they possibly could. But Harry didn't need Ron to assert the words he was clearly conveying with his eyes. They'd never leave him alone.

"Harry," he scolded. "If you think that for just one second we're contemplating desertion, you are more of an idiot than Snape gives you credit for." Glancing over at Sirius, who was scanning the landscape once again with his knowing eyes, he added, "I just thought we might need a better plan, that's all."

And with that trademark Weasley grin, Harry knew they were in it for life.

Ten minutes later, the little band of wizards and witches were navigating their way down the extensive corridors underneath Malfoy Manor.

"Shush!"

Hermione scolded Ron ferociously as he attempted to muffle his dusty cough that had made her jump so loudly that her high pitched squeal echoed uncomfortably down the passage, bouncing off the ever emerging stone as they continued to delve further into the depths of the lair. A few pebbles tricked down the slope as a result. Ron shot her in return a look of pure annoyance, but both were silenced themselves by an ever-vigilant Remus, who signaled a quick shift in direction to avoid a hurried Death Eater who descended the stairs ahead of them. Harry realized it was at times like these that he could appreciate the true value of the invisibility cloak.

Sirius, heading the pack in their silent transit, directed them toward the descent. There was a strange glint in his eye, vengeful even as he lead them to the stairs, his back pushed right up against the wall in the dark but still alert and fully attentive. Harry pondered for a minute as he observed this formidable figure how little he really knew about his Godfather. He'd been a legendary prankster, a carefree student, always ready to blow up the dungeons and not give a damn about the detentions that followed. Yet he'd fought the Dark right alongside Dumbledore, had contacts within the Aurors, and was trusted enough and responsible enough to be chosen as the original secret keeper. He was a walking paradox, a vault of tremendous talent, able to become Animagus while still in his youthful teens while his peers still had trouble with basic summoning charms. All this Harry knew for fact. But he didn't know what actually lay behind it all. What created the joker and allowed the possibility of his betrayal to be so believable. Right now he was a fighter. Harry had a feeling there was much more to be discovered.

But somehow Maggie had discovered it. In the time they spent together at Grimmauld Place, his former teacher had been able to break through his godfather's walls the same way she had been able to break through his own so long ago. And in the midst of a devastating war that could mar a man's soul, Harry had actually seen his godfather happy, laughing, and jubilant.

Harry realized that he had seen the Sirius Black that his father had known. And he had Maggie to thank for that. That knowledge alone propelled Harry forward in the darkness so that he could find his beloved teacher and friend. For himself. And for Sirius.

They crept down the stairs in single file, Harry's hand clasped around the wand that sat in his pocket as if his life depended on it. He observed a dull ache developing in his forehead; an almost tingling feeling creeping across his scar, but considering the circumstance he wasn't surprised by its presence. He didn't expect anything less, but merely prayed it wouldn't be too much of a hindrance on his concentration. If he ever needed all his wits about him, now was certainly the time. Voldemort was near, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"This way…" Sirius mouthed silently when they reached the bottom of the stairs. They stalked off down yet another endless corridor that Sirius seemed strangely comfortable with. His eyes were almost greeting the familiar, flicking with memories as he counted doors before him and carefully planned their route. Only Hermione was brave enough to question his peculiar behavior.

"Sirius…" she whispered as she crept up close behind him. "How do you know where we're going?"

But Sirius didn't answer. Instead Remus took up the mantle leaving his old friend to concentrate other route. He drew in a sharp breath and whispered, "Because this isn't exactly his first visit."

Ron's eyes widened. "What?"

"Voldemort's hideouts may have changed location…" Tonks informed them, "But they never appear to change layouts. That was half the challenge: Voldemort was always the master of concealment, but originality was never really his thing. But the Aurors never really found out much about the layout."

"Why?" whispered Harry.

"Because not many people came out of it alive." muttered Sirius quietly, an obvious pain present in his face. Yet more of the Marauder to be revealed. He looked down another set of corridors and emerged to address them again. "We're here. Come on."

They followed in a stunned silence. This corridor seemed the bleakest yet, the torches dimmed further than Harry thought was possible as if plunged the hall into near darkness. He supposed if this was where they kept the prisoners, the need to see was unnecessary. Sirius wasn't fazed by the abruptness of the dark at all. Instead he strode down the passage with astounding confidence, almost as if he knew the system well and thrived upon breaking its restrictions. He'd done it before, after all.

He stopped outside an oak door with an ugly gargoyle knocker.

"The highest security cell," he said without a prompt. He began feeling around the edges of the door. "I'd recognize it anywhere. That gargoyle has a vicious temper, so don't ever try to cross it…"

At this comment, the stone face of the creature growled in agreement, its eyes narrowing wildly as its pointed teeth protruded over its lower lip. Harry was sure it hissed. Hermione took a step back in alarm but bumped back into the figure of Remus, who took her shoulders reassuringly and suppressed her shudder to a minimum. But then Sirius let out a little gasp of his own as the gargoyle spat even more ferociously.

"What is it?" Tonks asked with an air of urgency, stepping up to the front. "What's the matter, Sirius?"

Wordlessly, he pushed against the door as it fell back into the cell, unlocked and swinging free on its ancient hinges, squeaking every inch of the way. Sirius stood back, wide-eyed, as Harry held no hesitation in pushing his way to the front and stepping into the darkness of the prison. He was vaguely aware of the others furiously debating whether they'd keep a Muggle in an enchanted cell like this as they all entered behind him to look, when Harry helped provide them an answer.

"Maggie's jacket," he said without emotion, retrieving it from the floor of the room and throwing it at Sirius, who caught it with a gasp. "She was wearing this when she and Ginny headed off for the dorms. Everywhere in the castle was so cold. She was shaking like a leaf…"

Sirius was pacing. Harry had seen him pace just once before, in the cave high above Hogsmeade a little while after the second task. He'd been deep in thought and considering the evidence Harry was putting before him with the manner of an attorney, gnawing absently on a chicken leg whilst discussing the activities of Barty Crouch Senior. Or so they thought. He'd been speaking all the way through that, constantly questioning, seeing the layers that hadn't occurred to Harry or that youth had deprived him knowledge of. Crouch's mysterious absences from the judge's panel of the tournament had just been a curious oddity, the danger being there but in the euphoria that followed Harry's successful adventure in the lake not taken as seriously as it might have. They didn't know what was coming then. But now they were painfully aware, horribly aware. There appeared to be no way out.

So Sirius was pacing with a frantic air, every step forced and slightly broken as he rubbed his unshaven face wearily with one hand as the others looked on. Harry saw his eyes were closed against the dark, his lips moving in silent murmurs as he turned sharply in the corner of the cell. They all had to cope with the certainty of the dawn in some way or other. Tonks was exploring the door with a glowing wand, searching for cracks, a way round the charm that was yet to be recorded. She was frowning at the wood and tapping it here and there while Hermione looked on, occasionally muttering her ideas and advice that the pink haired witch took on board willingly, her own resources exhausted. Ron simply sat with his back to the wall, his head in his hands, looking so downtrodden and defeated that his silence soon attracted other attention. Hermione glanced up from her work on the door and gazed at his fallen figure for a while, before she crept right over and simply put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it very gently. She looked him straight in the eye and Harry could see his friend begin to falter.

"Don't worry, Ron..." he vaguely heard Hermione say. "We're going to get them out of it, I just know it...'

"Quiet!" Tonks suddenly hissed, eyeing the small crack of light that protruded from the doorframe as if it were the devil itself.

Harry now felt a hand being placed on his head as he was pushed violently to the floor. He kept low to the ground, slipping silently to the darkest corner of the room, already finding Ron and Hermione taking the cue, both staring at him with their eyes plastered open with fear. He openly returned the stare as the footsteps grew closer, all of them producing their wands as the Order of the Phoenix formed a protective wall around the next generation.

Footsteps, voices...


	33. Another Time, Another Place

**Chapter Thirty Three - Another Time, Another Place**

_Moments later…_

Thump, thump, thump.

Everyone looked up and Hermione wiped away a silent tear as the footsteps grew louder and louder. Harry knew exactly what they were thinking, the twinkle of Ron's humor evaporating into the night as Sirius' own face darkened with their plight. But whatever they had expected, it was far from what they got.

The door opened with such an air of urgency, Harry was certain it was about to fall off its hinges with the force. Indeed as it slammed into the stonework behind it, the echo that was created was enough to even make Hermione jump, sheer apprehension that didn't suit her face etched across her pretty features. She edged further into the corner, looking as if she was going to faint, reminding Harry of that battle in the toilets with the troll that had brought them together in the first place. And although he somehow doubted that Ron would attempt to knock out three death eaters with a simple levitation charm, he was sure that the danger would have a similar bonding outcome.

"What do you want?" growled Harry, now standing on his feet with his wand gripped tightly in his fist.

Harry had obviously had enough. He was glaring at the figures through the darkness, the loathing on his face created by sixteen years of hurt and betrayal that was now making its true debut. Harry was growing up, and fully prepared to face the battles he knew were to come.

They shouldn't be facing this now. They should never have to face it. Evil should not exist. But one long look at the hardened face of Sirius Black reminded the group that there had never been any justice in the world as far as Voldemort was concerned. No justice whatsoever.

"Harry…" his Godfather was saying, putting a calming hand on Harry's shoulder that the teenager made no effort to bat away. He even looked quite gentle. "Leave it…"

"Harry, it's me…" one of the figures said, lowering the hood of its robes. "It's Maggie…"

Sirius suddenly seemed to lose all control of his facial features, as a million emotions flickered across its surface where none appeared to settle. Confusion, relief, outright amazement. His breathing became short as he finally laid eyes upon the personification of his deepest desires, manifesting themselves in this Muggle teacher clad in black, flying into the room like an angel of the night to deliver him more hope than he'd ever felt in his life. He couldn't help himself. He stepped forward into the torchlight and took her into his arms, looking frantically into her face for any sign of torture or torment. But there seemed to be no cause for him to worry. As Maggie raised her own hand and tenderly touched his unshaven face, she smiled and he knew that she may have been cold and hungry…but she was unharmed.

She was _whole_.

"Sirius Black…" she said quietly, so quietly it was as if they were the only two people in the world. A strong wave of affection rushed over her, filling her heart and soul almost painfully as she breathed in his scent. "I love you so much…"

Maggie had always anticipated anxiety about saying those words to him for the first time, but the words left her lips as naturally and easily as her own breath. Biting her lip at her own bold behavior, her heart sped up as she searched his eyes for the answer to her unspoken question.

"I love you, too," Sirius replied, and the words tickled Maggie's heart. Rather suddenly, he crushed her to him, holding his love as close as he possibly could, and she did the same. "I'll never let you go again. Never…"

"I love you," Maggie repeated, half laughing and half crying. "I love you so much."

And Maggie knew she was home as his face got closer to hers and their lips met in a passionate kiss that was gentle and tender and sweet and all of those other wonderful adjectives that Maggie had always applied to such a scenario when she envisioned it.

The kiss started out with loving passion, but suddenly turned into raw, angry passion. His lips were almost bruising hers and Maggie did not feel that lovely smile in them. His arms came around her tiny waist and lifted her off the ground, almost as if he was making to twirl her around the way the prince always did to the princess in those ridiculous movies she watched as a girl. Sirius' hands fisted in her hair, making tangles Maggie knew would be impossible to get out, if only she cared. His kisses were more and more fervent, more and more heartbreaking and she could swear she could taste anguish on his tongue. When his eyelashes brushed her face, they were wet, and she tasted tears on his lips.

A muffled cough finally broke through the haze of kisses and Maggie turned to see that they had a rather amused audience gathering around them.

"I hate to interrupt," Remus said slyly, winking at his best friend, "but we are on a bit of a tight schedule here. We need to get out of here before Voldemort finds out that we broke in and Maggie and Ginny broke out."

"They took us as bait," Ginny explained, disentangling herself from Harry's intimate embrace as Ron reached out and squeezed her hand with a smile. "But luckily Maggie had Professor Snape on her side and so together they broke me free. Voldemort, he wanted us to…"

"Snivellus?" Sirius asked in shock, looking down at Maggie for confirmation. "Snivellus helped you escape?"

"Yes," Maggie confirmed proudly, "He led me to Ginny and then let us go. He told us where we could find a passageway out of this prison, but there were too many corridors for us to…"

"Footsteps," Tonks suddenly interrupted bluntly, ignoring Ron's dropped chin and Harry's look of sheer shock. Sirius snapped back into life and agreed with him.

"He's right," he said, taking Maggie by the hand and leading them all toward the door. "They've finally sent out a guard. And if we don't get out of here within the next minute, it isn't going to be pleasant. Come on."

By the sound of the shouts now coming from below, Harry couldn't have disagreed even if he wanted to. He was in too much of a daze. He looked from Tonks to his Godfather, via Ron and Hermione, and by the looks on all their faces they were as dazed as he was. But there was still this prison to escape from. Still lives to be saved. And with that in mind, he wasn't going to hang around. With one last look to the left and the right, the group departed and ran straight into the dark, the door slamming silently behind them.

Sirius had adopted the role of Maggie's guide, as if she were his sole responsibility, his sole possession, something so delicate and precious he had to protect it at all costs. The events of that long ago Halloween had turned him into a solo flyer, not just for his own ease but to protect those he loved the most. He didn't want anyone else hurt.

The group followed them absently, Maggie's cloak billowing out behind as Sirius turned the corners of the lair like he knew it as well as the back of his hand. Remus was just quiet. He always was in bad situations…silent and thoughtful. He'd always be quiet until the last possible moment and then come out with something that would save everyone's necks. He was always the dependable one.

Maggie, on the other hand, was too scared to think. She even had to remind herself to breathe. She was running from a danger she couldn't have dreamed of in the darkest of her nightmares. This place stank of it, the fumes of evil wafting along the halls, filling the air with its unnatural fragrance that made her feel sick to the bone and drained her of everything else. Every step was an effort, dragging her feet along with herself as the soles of her shoes pounded the floor. Even the warmth of Sirius' hand in hers didn't bring satisfactory comfort. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to face any of this. She just wanted to take Sirius and Harry and the rest and wrap them up in a comforting blanket that would protect them from this hell and go home. But not back to Grimmauld Place, where danger still loomed. But back to America…back to Louisiana.

Back to her family.

Her throat seized up at the thought of them three thousand miles away, oblivious to it all. Oblivious to the magic, the danger and the drought. She wanted to see her father's face round the next bend, for her mother to smile and say everything was going to be all right. She wanted to get out of there. She didn't want it to be real.

The footsteps were getting closer as Sirius rounded them off into a smaller side passage, barely used and even darker than the cells before. Sirius and Maggie delved in first while the others filed in behind. And as Maggie turned her head to squint into the neverending oncoming darkness, she heard Sirius snarl, "Snape!"

Standing in front of them, Snape practically snarled back at Sirius as he eyed the rescue party with disdain. Harry pushed his way forward so that he was standing at the front to look his potions professor square in the eye to demand some answers. He could see his enemy's slate like eyes growl and narrow at him under the darkness of his hood. There was no lost love between them.

"What are you playing at, Professor!?" Harry almost yelled, too taken aback by the sudden turn of events. He glared desperately at Snape and whispered frantically, realizing the need for stealth, "Playing double agent? I…"

Severus Snape didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. His greasy hair was lying long around his ears, untouched by the dark that was yet to fill his pale, pointed face with any form of color or emotion. He just stared at Harry, his dark eyes narrowed in their usual look of disapproval as he addressed them in his bored, drawn out drawl.

"Potter…" came the hiss of a reply as Snape raised his wand. "Are you going to shut up or am I going to have to force you?"

Severus now held his wand up high across his face, brandishing it like a lethal weapon. Harry gripped his own tighter in his right hand and took a step back, alarmed by Snape's forwardness. He soon gave up trying to understand. It just didn't add up. Something had changed. Or so he hoped. Harry felt he couldn't confront anything more complicated right now. And by the blank looks of unregistered emotion that graced the faces of Ron, Hermione, and Sirius, Harry could tell they were feeling the same way.

The Potions Master glanced frantically down the hallway, then back to Harry again who observed for the first time that the Death Eater's eyes were alert with panic.

"Stun me," he whispered.

Harry's face froze. "What?"

"Stun me and then carry on down that hall," Snape repeated, calm and collectedly. Looking over at Maggie, he added, "I can't stay with you, it's too risky. The others are getting too close. Take the first corridor you come to on the left and go up a floor at the first opportunity. The side entrance to the manor isn't far. Just get them out of here and be thankful you got lucky."

"But Professor…" came Hermione's voice for the first time out of the darkness. It sounded just as baffled as Harry's. Harry could sense Ron step forward.

"Just do it!"

"With pleasure…"

Harry didn't even see where the spell had come from, the beam of light searing over his head, striking Snape down, his weakened form falling unconscious to the stone floor with a painful, stomach churning thump. Sirius now walked up behind Harry with a mischievous smile on his face, looking at the fallen Slytherin with a fair amount of self-satisfaction.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to do that again," Sirius said, pocketing his wand and turning to the rest of the group. "Let's go."

And as the footsteps were increasing with alarming frequency, no one was going to argue with that. They turned and fled up the corridor, leaving Snape in a heap of darkened robes in the middle of the opposing passage, hood down, sleeves flopped back and the dark mark etched onto his arm exposed to the air and facing up to the darkened sky.

He would not be found until the dawn. If he was found at all.

The footsteps refused to fade. Harry could have sworn they were coming from every direction, intent on encircling them all until there was no where else to go, until they closed in on them with their wands raised high and told them it was time to greet their doom. The passage Snape had told them to follow had been a very good one at that, but by cutting him off so soon they were soon lost on the floor above. They found themselves feeling much more exposed as they wound their way through cavernous rooms lit by large yet dimmer lanterns that limited the amount of negotiable shadow. Their run had been reduced to a creep, and it wasn't a pace Harry felt comfortable with. The longer they were in there, the more concentrated the ache in his scar seemed to become. And it was beginning to become unbearable.

Water was dripping from the ceiling as they entered yet another meeting hall. This one was decorated with various elaborate woods, crafted into spindly chairs that were much sturdier than they looked, demonstrated by the vast pile of menacing books that were piled high on one in the corner. It was almost like their library. The idea of educated Death Eaters seemed dangerous to Maggie. They paused to catch their breath, Hermione running a finger down the titles that seemed to make her cringe. Hermione could cope with most things, but specialised texts regarding curses that could rip apart your soul and keep you conscious for the pain of it were enough to make her physically wince. Ron looked pained just watching her. Harry wondered not for the first time today why he made them go through this, the doubt in his own ability obviously showing in his face as Hermione quashed it with a scolding glance and Ron just raised his eyebrows.

For it was then that the worst did happen.

Sirius sensed it first, the canine flashing in his eyes as he turned to face the door and the footsteps made their final approach. They had delayed too long. There was no use trying to hide. Harry whipped out his wand, Hermione too, as Sirius attempted to install Maggie in the darkest corner for her safety, his hands pushing her wildly away while the young teacher remained deathly silent, as if she too could sense the danger. Remus pulled Ginny's fallen wand from his pocket and returned it to it's red-haired owner.

'_Expelliarmus!_'

Harry issued the cry and it was effective to an extent. The wands of the nearest three Death Eaters soared high into the air, falling to the ground in a silent clatter as its impact was muted by the sound of battle breaking out. A rattled cry came from the other side of the room as the air was sparked alive with a shower of curses that thankfully missed their target. Tonks was back as the Auror and was truly in the job. Shooting one curse that caused a Death Eater to grasp his face with pain, she grabbed the shoulder of Remus' robes and threw him back toward the wall out of the blast of another group who'd entered the room through the back door.

They were surrounded.

Sirius instantly sensed the change in atmosphere and the composition of his body reflected this. In a blink of an eye he morphed down to floor level, the dog-like form of the black haired Padfoot emerging from the dark to snarl and bite at the enemy like an evil hound of the winter moor, teeth rabidly exposed and hate alive in his eyes.

A scream interrupted the proceedings from the general direction of Ginny. Before having to dodge a spark of blue light that seared across his shoulder as he fell, Harry saw her twist and twitch painfully on the ground, her hair spread out wildly as the Death Eater stood over her, satisfied with his work.

The Cruciatus curse.

"Ginny!" Harry and Maggie both screamed at the same time.

But then Ron made a charging assault at the Death Eater who inflicted the damage, forgetting his wand and merely going for the cloaked servant's throat, fists coming first in a desperate flurry that were enough for Ginny to recover shakily and effectively stun the offending enemy. But Ron didn't take any notice. He carried on punching - an upper cut there, a kick to the ribs - overtaken by a flight of rage and fury that scared his little sister so much she had to drag him off her attacker before his friends cast upon him a similar, painful fate. Harry had never seen Ron so emotionless. It scared him to see that this was the effect of the dark.

The youngest Weasley staggered over, breathless, and slipped behind the chair next to Harry and looked across the scene with him as she allowed a second to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" Harry managed to yell over the din that was Tonks and her one-woman war. Ginny nodded, panting slightly with a hand held over her heart, as if she wanted to check it was still alive and beating. Harry wasn't surprised - he knew exactly how she felt. And he knew he didn't want anyone feeling that way ever again, so he tightened his grip on his wand and prepared to rejoin the fray.

The battle was looking desperately lost. They were cornered. More and more Death Eaters were piling in both sets of doors, beginning to encircle the rescue party in the centre of the room. Remus had knocked some sense into his wife, who finally allowed him to help, and both worked back to back with wands held out like swords as a smoky haze filled the room as they lashed out to protect themselves from the onslaught.

But it was a worthless effort. Eventually a well placed charm sent Tonks flying and Remus ducked for cover as dust and rock fell from the ceiling in the spell's wake, sprinkling him with a fine layer of powder that settled on the shoulder of his darkened clothes and causing him to lose his wand in the process. He recovered quickly only to be greeted by his own wand being directed straight between his eyes as he attempted to scramble backwards away from it. The Death Eater cackled as two of his friends came up to join him.

But Tonks simply rolled across the floor and took care of all three with a few quick spells as she landed on her feet with the elegance of a dancer, not missing a single beat as she scanned the room for new hazards.

"Sirius! Look out!"

Maggie had been spotted, and a new group of Death Eaters zoned straight in towards her corner. Sirius dove and the snarling dog split the pack, tearing robes and skin as he attempted to divert their attention away from her.

"Get him off me, get off me!"

The Death Eater that Sirius was in the middle of savaging was desperately swiping at the mongrel, the hood of his cloak falling back to reveal a man Harry failed to recognize. His eyes were as black as Whitby jet as they shone through the darkness in terror of the animal about to rip out his throat, his mouse-colored hair falling haphazardly in his face obscuring it from his attacker. He cried out yet again.

Harry almost yelled out himself in anguish as another Death Eater managed to grab old Padfoot painfully by the scruff of his neck. He yanked him back from harming his colleague and threw the dog hard against the wall, the impact a sickening, bone breaking thud that made Sirius whine with pain as he slumped slowly to the ground. For Harry that was enough. He went to attack but found he wasn't going to be quick enough.

"Maggie!"

The teacher turned just in time to feel the heat of the curse soaring through the air towards her. Harry went to divert them but found himself engulfed by the enemy and unable to be of aid. Before he could utter a word, her former student was tackled by the biggest Death Eater of the lot, a physical tackle around his waist that sent him flying to the ground with all the air knocked out of him. He gasped and could only watch as they approached Maggie with their wands raised, ready for the kill.

But somehow, she was ready. The first wave she'd managed to duck, the holes they'd sizzled in the stone clearly visible behind her as he began the final run. But to Harry's amazement, it was seemingly unnecessary. Ginny was there and knew exactly what to do.

As Ginny brought the wand across her and Maggie, it left a trail of sparks so silver that Harry couldn't have imagined anything more beautiful as he struggled underneath the weight of the attackers currently intent on pinning him to the ground. She brought the wand round in a high, elegant arc, the shower of sparks raining down in front of the pair of them and shielding them in a mist that seemed to solidify, then disappear, before their very eyes. And the next volley of curses just bounced off.

It bought them time. Sirius was beginning to stir as Remus found himself outnumbered on the far side of the room. Tonks found herself being grabbed from behind, her arm twisted up her back until the sickening crack at her elbow forced her to release her wand, the wood clattering to the ground. Harry could see her wince. Hermione's hiding place was quickly found by a flood of new recruits, her grunts of objection as she was dragged to her weakened feet by another Death Eater causing Ron to dive again. He was, however, quickly and skillfully silenced by an unsuspected Stunning spell from the direction of the newly arrived Lucius Malfoy. Ron fell to the floor with a thud while Lucius' anger raised the roof. Ginny's shield shook with fright, flickered and died.

This was it. They were done for. There was no turning back

"Take them all down to the Dark Lord."

And then Harry felt something hard strike him across the back of his head and he fell unconscious to the ground, to remember nothing at all.


	34. Love Conquers All

**Chapter Thirty Four – Love Conquers All**

_Moments later, in the Great Hall of Malfoy Manor…_

Malfoy Manor was silent.

No sounds came from the numerous portraits of ancestors long in the grave that dotted along the elegantly covered walls. There was not even a slight rustle of clothing or a shuffling of feet from the pictures' subjects, and at a first glance, one might even have thought that the portraits were Muggle-made. The lack of movement that they all showed pointed to such a conclusion, at the very least. But such was not the case – especially in this house. The family to which this house belonged would _never_ have had Muggle pictures lining their corridors. They would not have allowed such an atrocity to grace the house.

Corridors and rooms were cloaked in shadows, most of the home's candles not having been lit and the lights either dimmed or turned off completely. All of the doors were closed, hiding the rooms beyond from the sight of anyone passing through the halls, and the entire house appeared empty. Everything was still and silent. No one climbed or descended the stairs, and no one entered or left a room, so that not even the creaking of a step or old hinges could be heard.

Maggie felt something sharp press into her back and she moved, not by choice, but by some automatic feeling of co-operation that infiltrated her body through the surge of fear that currently engulfed them all. She felt as if her head had been beaten with a sledgehammer, puncturing her brain and letting all sane and sensible thought out. She felt vulnerable. Everything was still a blur. The young teacher could see anonymous shapes moving up ahead in their silent world, hazes of black merging in and out of the shadows that seemed more frightening than just the dark alone.

They were all devoid of emotion as the group simply stopped at their final destination, wide-eyed and concentrating on nothing but the scene that lay ahead of them. But even if Maggie had the energy to utter such a sound as a scream of horror, she would never, ever have dared. They were in the face of pure and total danger now, and Maggie could sense that everyone knew it.

Harry was standing some distance away right on the edge of her vision, unchained. He was facing the Dark Lord, who sat upon his throne as he surveyed his realm of control with such a look of self-satisfaction that it made Maggie cringe. She finally dared to look into his face, to see the image that had haunted her lover and her former student and all the wizards that she knew for all the time she had known them.

He was what they feared the most.

Voldemort sat on a jewel-encrusted throne merely feet away, holding Harry's wand within his fingers, turning the wood over and over in his hands. His glowing red eyes were narrowed into slits of complete and utter contempt and Maggie silently wondered how Harry didn't crumble under the evil of his gaze. He was obviously much stronger than she had ever realized. The skin of the evil sorcerer was stretched across his face, highlighting every bony detail as if he were a reanimated corpse, living on revenge and power. She shuddered in his presence. This man, this thing…he was the devil.

Maggie glanced frantically around, her brain alive with the possibility of escape. But there was no chance. For all she could see as the fog was finally lifted from her eyes was black, a sea of black being manifested as a wall of Death Eaters who had come to witness the finale of Harry's tragically eventful life.

They were there to see him die.

"Bring them forward!" Voldemort cackled as Harry's friends were finally brought fully into the room. He felt his stomach sink and shrivel at the sight of them in chains, hope truly edging out of their faces and the despair that replaced it heart-breaking. But they knew better than to show anything likened to weakness in the presence of the Dark Lord. They did actually treasure their lives.

"So Harry…" Voldemort allowed his glare to focus on The Boy Who Lived again. "Not only are you so stupid as to walk into my trap, but you are determined to bring your friends down with you? Stupid, stupid boy. Your death will be well deserved."

Maggie could have sworn she heard Sirius make a sudden movement at this hideous declaration, his chains chinking together as he jerked at the suggestion of his godchild's death.

At this point, they sensed a shift in the Death Eaters as a few of them stepped back, heads a little bowed as one of their number was stepping to the fore. Maggie heard scuttling and then Wormtail made his entrance in his Animagus form, the rat in all senses of the word. Maggie felt her fists tighten automatically as Pettigrew the rat clambered up the throne to perch on his master's knee like some hideous lap dog. Wormtail's whiskers twitched a little as he relaxed into a Scabbers-like doze while Voldemort stroked his head with one scaly finger, smoothing down the matted fur as he spoke, his eyes not leaving Harry for an instant.

"What do you want from us?" Harry finally asked, almost already knowing the truth.

"Your death," said Voldemort. "And nothing less. What I was deprived of by sheer luck and circumstance last summer. Now we are on my terms, and this time I will win. But first we have an issue to attend to. We need to address the Muggle…"

At this, a couple of Death Eaters seized Maggie by the arms and dragged her up to stand next to Harry, the two of them and the Dark Lord forming a triangle as they faced what each other had to offer.

"Miss Magnolia, allow me to introduce myself to you." Voldemort said in an almost charming manner. "Did your new friends tell you that I am the most powerful wizard in the world? That I alone, the heir of the greatest of the Hogwarts four, have injected more fear into society than has been seen since the days of Salazar Slytherin himself? But of course," he suddenly became sickeningly bitter, "being a Muggle, you wouldn't know any of that, would you?"

"She may be a Muggle," Sirius hissed from his place in the corner as he narrowed his eyes toward the Dark Lord, "but she's a hundred times more powerful than you could ever be. At least she has a soul."

"You were witness to one of the most hideous and unexpected wizarding crimes since the days of Grindelwald," Voldemort uttered, almost completely ignoring Sirius as he looked down with a sense of pride towards his most pathetic minion. Maggie could see Wormtail's chest swell as his Master continued, "When Wormtail entered my service, I promised him everything he'd ever want. That is what the dark side can deliver. I have better ways to torture those who pose a danger to me than death, friend of Harry Potter. I am well crafted in the acts of death and torture, Miss Magnolia, and adore an opportunity to further my skills in that field."

Maggie's face didn't react, but her voice just confirmed the obvious. "You're going to kill me?"

"Not just you, my little flower…not just you." He raised an eyebrow. "I am going to let you enter hell with the deaths of everyone else in this room clearly set in your mind. And if they are especially reluctant, I may even let you hear them scream…"

Maggie swayed, but did little else as she was merely feet away on Harry's left and looking desperately, desperately lost. If Harry hadn't known better, he would have seen a moment of fear flicker across her eyes. But the young teacher remained rigid.

"Let me begin by giving you a taste of what is to come…"

And with that The Dark Lord whipped out his wand and pointed straight at the others. "_Luptandio_!"

And Remus fell.

His knees seemed to buckle in an instant as he crashed onto the floor, his chains still binding him as he twitched and howled in a way Maggie had never heard before or since. It was worse than the Cruciatus curse...much, much worse. Maggie simply shut her eyelids and quivered at the sound, knowing deep down that she would never again witness anything so horrible. And judging by the snarl that was present on Voldemort's face, this was just the start.

Remus was screaming as if he was being devoured from the inside out, and as Maggie opened her eyes again, she found this description horrifically accurate. As Remus stretched out his fingertips against the flow of pain, his flesh almost erupted. A shadow of black was growing out of the skin as he let out another agonizing howl. His back arched as he suddenly reared up like a wild animal, fighting against the pain that was so obvious in the dead of his eyes. They were shining out beneath the fresh layer of fur that crept across his face and blemished his features, hiding all of Remus from view except for the pain in his eyes. His human eyes. The wolf-like snout. It didn't mix. Maggie was vaguely aware of Tonks screaming and struggling against her chains to get to her beloved husband, beneath the din of the laughing Death Eaters.

"You hear that pain, my little Magnolia?" asked Voldemort slyly as he lowered his wand but allowed the curse to continue, Remus now snapping wildly at the ground, his mouth portraying violence whilst his eyes pleaded confusion. "I simply turned the evil in your dear friend Remus into his outer shell. The ultimate pain, you know, denying your true identity.…"

And as if to answer it, the half wolf that was Remus gave a howl of pain that was reminiscent of a wolf's call toward the moon that would forever dictate his life. Maggie shivered.

"Of course I couldn't push his transformation all the way. This is merely a half spell. Like only the half moon. This is forced. But to do something like this, to act against nature? It is indeed ultimate pain."

His eyes were glazed for a moment as Remus whimpered between that of a canine and a muffled human cry. Maggie turned and could see Tonks on the verge of tears.

And then there was silence. Complete and utter silence. Maggie swayed a little on the spot, her lip beginning to tremble like a small defenseless child, unable to truly face her foe and put any visual image to the horror he wished to inflict upon her. She was utterly, utterly lost.

All Harry wanted do to was tell her it was gong to be all right. Here there was a woman old enough to be his mother and he felt it was his place to do the comforting. In the world Harry existed in, he had had to grow up fast.

"Should I go on, Miss Magnolia?"

"Let her go," said a voice, suddenly piercing the darkness and causing every single pair of eyes to swing and focus upon its source. The voice drew breath again. "She is no threat to you…she has no powers here. It was Harry and I that you wanted and here we are. Let the Muggle go."

Harry stared. His Godfather, his head held high and darkened eyes twinkling brightly with determination, took a step forward away from his companions to address the Dark Lord. Tonks, now crouched by Remus' side and trying to calm the half-turned wolf with a gentle stroking motion merely lifted her head to watch, the tears truly glistening on her normally cheerful face. They looked completely out of context. Ginny, Hermione and Ron didn't even flinch. It was as if they were expecting this, as if they already knew. But for Sirius and Maggie, it was as of there was no one else in the room.

"Seeming as though you two are so touchingly close…" sneered Voldemort, the evil glint in his bright red slits growing stronger at the thought, "I think that Sirius Black will be the first to die."

But Sirius was too fast for him. Too fast for the most evil wizard to have walked the face of the earth since the days of Slytherin himself. Too fast for his own good. As Voldemort raised his wand and uttered a curse that would strike fear in the heart of many just at the sound of its syllables, Sirius pulled out the Animagi card and played it to his full potential. He vanished. Voldemort's spell just hit air and then cracked into the wall of the chamber, causing debris to scatter in every direction and Maggie to duck and throw herself upon the cold stone floor with her arms over her head. All she could do was glance up and watch as Sirius Black, snarling all the way in his dog-like form, made for the Dark Lord's throat.

"Sirius!"

Voldemort yelled out a strangled cry as the dark shadow of Padfoot easily slid out of the chains that had bound his human form to launch his attack, just as Voldemort rose and performed the deadly curse that went shooting off in completely the wrong direction. Sirius knocked the Dark Lord down and sent him flying; weapons and all, sending Voldemort thumping painfully into his throne and straight upon the floor, horrified. The heavy weight of Sirius was soon upon him, the dog exposing his claws from the dark recess of his paws and striking the Lord within an inch of his life. Voldemort could do nothing. But it didn't mean his minions couldn't.

"Curse him!" he managed to screech as he tried to wrestle the mongrel off while desperately clinging onto his wand. "Seize him!"

The Death Eaters raised their wands, but didn't respond. They simply stared. They couldn't attack the attacker without bringing harm to their master himself. The pair of them were in too close proximity: the spell could deflect off one onto the other. But the Death Eaters wouldn't be able to take that risk. Voldemort could be killed. But as the realisation of this possibility began to sink into Harry's already frantic mind, a number of things happened.

And it all began with a wand.

Sirius and Voldemort continued their fatal dance. Sirius barked, an angry cry as he attempted to mutilate the Dark Lord again, swiping with his paws and teeth with more savagery than Harry had thought possible. He could hear Maggie's muffled scream, the Death eaters pleading their case to their master as they stood by and did nothing. He could sense Ginny standing as stock-still as them all. But despite the subtleness of the motion it accompanied, one sound overrode everything. He looked down.

Eleven inches, Holly, Phoenix Feather. His wand. It had been knocked to the ground when Sirius attacked Voldemort.

His chance. Sirius' hope. He used it.

_"Libero!"_

And the chains that bound his friends disintegrated around their wrists and crumbled to dust upon the floor. The Death Eaters guarding them almost jumped back in shock. They were ready to fight now.

_"Accio wands!"_

Ginny cast her hand out away from her as the objects obeyed her command, suddenly tearing themselves away from the servants who held them as they arched into the air and back to their rightful owners. Ron, in particular, grabbed his with vigor and prepared to face the fray, but not before casting a confused frown upon his forehead as the Death Eaters around them got ready for their attack.

"But how?" he whispered to no one in particular.

"Wand-less spells, Ron," said Hermione quickly, raising her own fusion of nine and a quarter inches of Silver birch and dragon heartstring. "We're magic. It's in our blood. We don't need our wands for everything…"

But she didn't get a chance to finish before the battle began. Ron quickly turned and hexed a Death eater who was attempting to sneak up on Hermione from behind, the spell hitting the offender square in the face as he fell, screaming as the _Furnunculus_ curse took effect. Ron shivered. Hermione however was not deterred but simply applied her theory, a clever combination of the Reducter curse and a banishing charm that sent the enemy flying back into the chamber wall.

Even Tonks, somehow energized by this sudden turn of events, swung round on two Death Eaters and froze them on the spot, the punch that followed strong enough to send both crashing to the floor and knocking them unconscious in its wake. She nodded to the half-wolf Remus, whose human eyes flashed in understanding as he took to flight himself, snapping more viscously than Padfoot ever could and causing a great many Death Eaters to flee in pure and utter terror. In reality they had no stomach for the forces of the dark, and Voldemort seemed to know this. He bellowed his frustration.

"I have had enough!" he cried, as he managed to finally free a spider-like hand and grasp Harry's godfather painfully round the throat.

"No!"

Harry had to get there. He had to help Sirius. He had a wall of Death Eaters to get through first, but that was unlikely to stop The Boy Who Lived. He rapidly shot out spell after spell, all the knowledge and preparation that he hadn't been able to apply in the midst of the third task suddenly proving essential. He felt a fire of rage burn in his chest. He had to get to Sirius. There was nothing else to it, except...

"Maggie! Look out!"

Ginny's cry raised the Muggle's attention just in time as a larger figure cloaked in black began his silent approach. The redhead scrambled for the wand that was just returned to her when Maggie suddenly took care of the threat first, her eyes flashing furiously at whatever he was intending.

"Take that!"

She promptly turned on the spot and viciously brought up her knee, causing the Death Eater to suddenly reel back in unexpected pain as she followed it up with a neat upper cut that was the last thing the enemy was expecting. A stunning spell from the direction of Harry finally finished him off, but not without a note of self-satisfaction infiltrating the voice of innocent Maggie.

"And that…" she said, giving the limp body of the fallen Death Eater a good healthy kick, "is what you get for underestimating a Muggle!"

But the moment of jubilation over this little victory was incredibly short-lived. Harry finally cut down the last of the Death Eaters between him and the Dark Lord, sending them fleeing for their lives or simply diverting their attention, and was about to come to his godfather's aid when Voldemort took the initiative. He suddenly smiled.

And with Voldemort that was never, ever good.

"Alas, my canine friend," he spat, his personal pleasure from what he was about to undertake dominating his snake-like features, "All good things must come to an end…"

And then he raised his wand and muttered an incantation. It just happened so fast. The piece of transfiguration was something Harry had never heard before, but it must have been powerfully dark as it temporarily blacked out the scene. All light seemed to evaporate in the wake of its evil and then proceeded to suddenly flash back, causing Voldemort's newly transfigured wand to glint a little in the light, the sharp edges of the knife foretelling all the future. It was raised and then its horrible damage inflicted as Voldemort used it to pierce poor Sirius' flesh. Again. And again. The form of Padfoot toppled backwards, weakened by the wound, as Voldemort stabbed again, the look of murder flashing across his eyes as he launched a fresh attack. Except this time, Harry was ready.

_"Expelliarmus!"_

So simple, yet so effective. Voldemort's hand let go of the knife as if it were in fire, sending it flying across the chamber and hitting the ground in an equally blinding light that forced it to transfigure itself back into his wand again. Lord Voldemort was tool-less, but certainly not out of ideas.

"Very clever, Mr Potter," he said in a drawl that made Harry's stomach churn as he slowly made his approach, "Very clever indeed. But as your friend observed earlier, without a wand at hand a truly great wizard is far from powerless. _Reducto_!"

Harry ducked as the spell was shot out from Voldemort's fingers and went soaring over his head and impacted against the wall, covering him in dust. He straightened again with eyes blazing as the others still fought gallantly out of the corner of his eye to come to Sirius' aid. The dog was painfully clambering back onto his feet.

"Fast reflexes too, I see, so much like your father…" Voldemort sneered at the thought. "I can see why you excel at Quidditch. Always a sport for the fast, indeed, and most definitely for the stupid. This time you won't escape. _Imperio_."

Voldemort said this lazily as Harry for the briefest of instants felt as if he were floating away. But he supposed as the command was not issued from a wand, its effects were hardly able to penetrate his skin as he simply shook himself right and gripped his wand tighter, the veil of peace lifting from his mind to be simply replaced by the chaos. If Voldemort was astounded, he did not show it. Harry wondered for a moment whether that face was able to show any emotion at all.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." _Harry repeated out loud as he stood straighter and stared down his enemy with a newfound resolve.

Harry threw everything he could at Voldemort, the desperation to break off the escapade and come to the aid of his injured Godfather painfully obvious in his voice, the tone quavering even as he issued an impediment curse that Voldemort batted off easily. The volley of spells was fast and furious, as much as the cries from the other side of the room were as everyone fought their own private battle to get to the person of priority.

Maggie got up to run just as another reductor curse helped lower the stability of the Great Room's ceiling. The cracks were beginning to arch frighteningly over Harry's head when at last it happened. She leapt haphazardly for the Dark Lord's unprotected wand and let her bloody hand close up around it.

Voldemort suddenly wrenched. It was as if some higher being had finally pulled a string, tagging the puppet of the Dark Lord back and sending him plunging to the floor like a real-life voodoo doll. As if someone else was inflicting the damage upon him. Harry could see Maggie putting every last ounce of strength she had into holding her grip on the wand, her small fingers wrapped tightly around the fifty-year-old wood and in their wake causing Voldemort more agony than anyone had believed possible.

The wood was beginning to splinter as the Death Eaters began to flee in terror. All except, for once, the rat.

"Seize her, Wormtail!" Voldemort screamed as pain washed over every inch of his body, "Kill the dog and the Muggle, I order you!"

He was clearly out for retaliation, and Wormtail was not going to deny his master of such a noble cause. The small shabby wizard delved into the depths of his black Death Eater robes and pulled out his own weapon, a battered wand that had certainly seen much better days. Indeed even Wormtail fumbled with it, the wood clattering clumsily to the floor as he swept down to pick it up again, murmuring his apologies

"But I'm just not used to it, my Lord," he whimpered, "I - "

"Then give me your wand!"

And with that Harry ran and threw himself in front of his godfather and his former teacher, arms spread out at his side as he turned to face the traitor with his eyes ablaze with fire. Wormtail flinched for only a second before tossing his wand to his master.

"Avada Kedavra!"

And then it exploded. It was as if the wand just wouldn't except the command it was given, bucking like a horse afraid of a strange rider and obviously showing its discomfort. It fizzed as Voldemort yelped in surprised, still clutching the wood as the green light of the killing curse gradually engulfed the whole magical creation. It worked its way slowly towards his spindly fingers, the occasional spark bouncing off the gauntlet. The light illuminated his pale devil-like face in its eerie forest glow, the duck egg-like tint it gave his features portraying nothing less than pure and utter horror. The wand burned down to his fingertip as he finally let it go, the last crumbs of the creation trickling to the ground just as Maggie finally splintered the wood of Voldemort's own wand through and through.

"Now, Harry…" Sirius whispered, transfiguring slowly back to his human form. "He is weakened. Finish this…for all of us."

_It all comes down to this..._ Harry thought. All the years of struggle, pain, and loss... all of it was leading up to this single moment.

"It's okay, Harry," Maggie whispered, glancing up at him with steely reserve. "Whatever happens, we'll be here for you. We'll get you through it. We love you."

Harry met his former teacher's eyes and held them for a moment before he finally looked away. He then stared down into the cruel, pitiless red eyes of the broken wizard lying at his feet and slowly raised his wand. As he began speaking the incantation, Harry thought of his parents, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Maggie, Dumbledore... and Ginny.

_It's the only way._

Without a trace of fear or hesitation, he whispered, "Avada Kedavra!"

Maggie was so profoundly unnerved by these words (and by Harry's clouded green eyes staring blankly downward) she failed to notice the blood curdling scream that pierced the night air. Next to them, a shrieking Lord Voldemort writhed in pain, his body being contorted by some unseen force. A jet of red light suddenly burst from his chest, illuminating the dark sky with a bloody glow. And then, just as suddenly, all was silent and still once again.

Harry, Maggie, and Sirius stared at Voldemort's pale body and realized with hollow satisfaction that the Dark Lord had been defeated at last.


	35. Never Alone

**_To my loyal readers - I am so sorry that there has been such a delay with this story. But, life got in the way. I hope you haven't all given up on me or this story!_**

**_Daffodil Princess Flower - I am deeply humbled by your comment about Rowan Hood of the Rowan Wood. As a mother of young children myself, the death of a child is something that brings me to tears even if I didn't know them. I am sorry about your friend. And I am sorry that I didn't get the chance to post the end of this story before Sarah died. I am honored that my writing brought her a bit of comfort. I think she would have like it. _****_The rest of this story is in memory of her..._**

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**Chapter Thirty Six - Never Alone**

"Is everyone ready for this?"

The volume of the voice was so low that is was barely audible, but his companions were able to catch every last word. They were all quite familiar with whispered conversations because silence was a formidable ally in any war, especially the deadly and dangerous conflict that they had all been experiencing for nearly a decade. Glancing behind him, he made out the distinguished forms of hundreds of wizards and witches through the shadows. The determined and set expressions on their faces were only slightly visible in the poor, late-night lighting of the moon and stars. Every one of them nodded determinedly, some shifting their positions as they remained hidden in the shadows. Whether they did it to get a better view of their target or to become less visible was impossible to tell. All of them, however, tightened their grips on their wands, spells and incantations already flying through their individual minds in preparation of the possible battle to come. While they hoped there would not be too much of a conflict, every one of the witches and wizards knew to be ready; too many had died in this war already because people had been unprepared.

"We're as ready as we can be," muttered Neville Longbottom, looking over his shoulder to survey his companions. He was eighth in the line, right behind the seven red headed wizards who had been chosen to lead this particular assault. Glancing at the patriarch of the Weasley clan, he continued, "We've been planning for this for years, after all."

Yet it had been merely hours since the information had been delivered to the Order of the Phoenix via one of Dumbledore's spies…though precisely who that was, not a single one of the witches and wizards could say. _"The Dark Lord is using the Malfoy Mansion as a base,"_ the information had said._ "He is holding the Muggle and the Weasley girl in the dungeons down below. Potter and his friends will face the Dark Lord there… "_

In a relatively short amount of time, they had put this mission together, piece by piece. All available knowledge of the building – its layout, its history, its surrounding geography, everything – had been gathered, studied, and examined. And they were ready now…there could be no more planning; it was simply a time for action. The members of Dumbledore's Army were quickly inducted into the Order of the Phoenix and were prepared to strike.

A cloud shifted in the sky, revealing a crescent moon that gleamed down on the grounds and provided more light. The outline of their target – though it had been impossible to miss even in the pitch black darkness of earlier – became even more pronounced. Everyone looked at the tall, massive structure in front of them. It was located only a few metres from where they stood hidden in the cover of the surrounding dark forest, whose trees were close enough to each other to provide ample amounts of protection for the group. The building's thick stone walls towered towards the night sky. No lights shone through the high, glass windows, and heavy, iron gates kept out unwanted visitors – most of the time, that is. There were no sounds coming from within the building, and even the gardens in the front of the manor seemed undisturbed. At a quick glance, it would not appear that anyone was – or had recently been – inside the mansion.

The members of the Order of the Phoenix, who were currently gathered in the forest, however, knew better. They knew that the manor wasn't empty. Just like they knew the moment had come.

"It's time," Arthur Weasley said, glancing over to the person on his right. He frowned slightly when he noticed the tightness and increased paleness on his wife's face. "Molly?" he asked. But he received no response; Molly Weasley did not appear to have heard him.

Molly's gaze remained focused on the building, her stare so intense that she had not even noticed the extremely tight grip with which she held her wand – a grip that, if it was any tighter, would surely snap the wooden instrument in half – and nor did she hear the voice of her husband call to her. A sharp, tingling feeling that felt both hot and cold at the same time raced up and down her spine, causing her to shiver involuntarily. The mother of seven children could feel the oppressive levels of Dark magic that oozed from the building, enveloping and wrapping themselves around the stone.

But the Dark magic was not the only thing freezing up the witch's usually quick mind. Sights and sounds assaulted her senses, and she could not tell if they were fiction or reality, memory or nightmare. Fragmented flashes of something – memory, fear, she did not know – swept through her head, moving too fast for her to place even if she had wanted to.

"Molly?"

She broke free of the images as a hand grasped her shoulder, giving her a slight shake. Blinking, she tried to force the residual pictures away, taking a deep breath before turning to her husband and comrades.

"Everything all right?" Arthur's voice was quiet as he spoke, the words only loud enough for the red-haired woman next to him to hear. His eyes grew worried as his beloved failed to respond.

The paleness in Molly's face grew heavier, and her intense gaze on the building became even more focused.

"Molly –"

"Yes," muttered Molly finally, pulling her stare from the manor for the first time that night and glancing at her husband and sons. Her heart rate had fallen back to a normal pace; the flashing images in her mind were slowly disappearing. Returning Arthur's action of a grasp on the shoulder, she continued, "Everything's fine … I'm fine, darling."

"You're sure?"

"Positive," answered Molly, an expression between that of a smile and a smirk spreading across her face. "It's nothing, really. I was just thinking …"

"About?"

Molly's eyes grew wider, but it was one of her identical sons who answered as a mischievous twinkle entered Fred's eyes.

"About how much fun tonight should be. What else?"

Despite Fred's injection of humor, Molly could still feel Arthur's stare on her and knew her husband wasn't completely reassured that she was all right. But now was simply not the time to dwell on it. Now, however, the focus needed to be on the mission…on Ginny and Ron, Harry, Maggie, Sirius, Remus, and Nymphadora. Her focus had to be on the target that was trying to steal them all away from her.

Distraction would only result in defeat.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The torches had gone out.

The dishevelled group, running at a limp as Remus the half-wolf led the way with his superior vision in the night, didn't even bother to try and hide their presence.

They just had to get out.

It was the only way.

Sirius now had hold of the sleeve of the Death Eater's robe that Maggie was still wearing and it flared out behind her as they ascended the stairs towards freedom and the dawn. Nymphadora lit her wand ahead of Harry to help guide the group towards the sky. And Harry, little Harry, the sixteen year-old boy with a sparkling smile, the emerald eyes to match and a world of responsibility on his shoulders, didn't have time to think. He didn't have time to consider the pain in his side where a falling rock had hit him. He didn't have time to consider whether performing the killing curse on Voldemort would forever change him. He didn't even have time to consider the fate of his former teacher, who had been dragged into a world beyond the realm of her imagination and almost didn't survive. He didn't have time to think at all. For in that moment, the Dementors were suddenly right on their trail.

It was Hermione who spotted them first, her muffled scream alerting Harry as he spun round and saw them coming. The soulless creatures almost glided the distance between them. No human-like sound echoed from their lips, except a horrifying rasping and wheezing as they drew their cold breath and sucked all emotion from the air. The group were swept with a horrifying cold, the words of Ron briefly echoing in Harry's ears… _'I felt weird... like I'd never be cheerful again...'_ before his friends' words were cut off by the screams of his dying parents. And if that wasn't a sound that would ever provoke Harry into action, absolutely nothing would. He raised his wand on high.

'Expecto Patronum!'

The silver streak of Prongs rode again. Harry's Patronus almost exploded from his wand, as if it wanted to be there as much as Harry wanted it to be. The Dementors reared at the sight as the silver stag charged at their ranks, breaking them up and forcing them back. Harry shivered, his eyes wide and illuminated by the light as he tried to absorb as much of the ghostly image of his father as he possibly could in that instant as it drove the Dementors away.

And then they were gone.

But yet the Patronus seemed to linger, cantering slowly toward them with its head raised high and wide eyes bulging as if it couldn't believe the sight. The ragged band of warriors all stood motionless for a moment as they became captivated by the scene. Even Ron, whose hand had seemed permanently fixed upon his pocket, let his hand fall loose as calm washed over the group. Remus turned and stared as the Patronus walked between them, its gentle grace filling them with positive energy. It bowed its antler-laden head to Sirius and Remus and Nymphadora, then Ron and Hermione, before fixing its attention on Maggie. As the Patronus approached, Maggie self-consciously stepped back…and promptly steppedon Sirius' foot. He laid a steadying hand upon her shoulder as the silver stag regarded the young teacher for a moment and then stepped silently back. Then with one last look at Harry, the image of Prongs was gone.

"What was that?" Maggie whispered in amazement and disbelief, looking in confusion from Sirius to Harry.

"That was my dad," Harry whispered proudly.

"He was thanking you," Sirius said softly into Maggie's ear from behind her, "Thanking you for taking care of his boy."

The emotional weight of what had just happened to them finally set into Maggie's shoulders and her eyes filled with tears as she took Harry's hand in hers. Squeezing his cold fingers tightly, she reminded him, "But you are the one who saved me tonight."

Her former student smiled at her and replied, "Only because you saved me first. From a closet. In a classroom in Little Whinging."

"Harry…" Hermione's quiet yet determined voice broke through after what seemed an eternity of silence. "We've got to go."

As Harry felt his feet move to follow his treasured friends, his body recognized the danger of their pause. The Death Eaters who had fled the great hall most certainly were aware of their Master's demise by this time and were closing in on the group of escaping wizards. But Harry's mind was still firmly fixed in the spot where Prongs had been standing just a minute prior. The way his eyes seemed to flick towards each of them in turn, the way they seemed to linger.

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, he thought. He'd seen them all tonight, in one way or another.

Up another flight of stairs the group ran with confused yells of orders and pain echoing right behind them, and they were there.

The front door to Malfoy Manor. They were almost free.

Remus' ability to follow their previously laid scent was at that time a godsend, leading them back to the darkened corridor they had entered through. The Death Eaters rounded the corridor and they looked to be merely ten seconds away.

"Alohomora!" Sirius shouted, pointing his wand at the door before it opened into the ascending dawn.

The end of the storm was coming. Although dark thunderous clouds were pouring their load onto the grounds of Malfoy Manor, the breaking dawn in the distance, far into the east, seemed to emit a beam of hope.

"There they are!"

At first Maggie thought that the cry had come from behind them and closed her eyes to the impending nightmare that wouldn't seem to end. But when she heard Ginny breathe the word "Mum!" into the darkness, Maggie realized that the cry hadn't come from their enemies at all. It had come from the large group of wizards charging toward them with Arthur and Molly Weasley at the head. As one solid group, the members of the Order took over where Harry and the others had left off and began ridding the wizarding world of Death Eaters once and for all.

And in that moment, Maggie could feel something radiating from Harry that she had never felt before...Hope. Smiling over at the student she had come to love like her own son, Maggie wrapped her arm around his waist, pulled him close to her, and whispered, "You're right."

Harry dragged his eyes away from the battle playing out before them and looked at her quizzically as he asked, "Right about what?"

Gently lowering the wand he was poised to use once again in battle, she turned his face to look at the emerging sunrise. As dawn brightened a new day, Maggie said soflty, "It's okay to believe it, Harry. Because you're right. It's finally over."


	36. The First Day of the Rest of Her Life

**_Thanks once again to all of my faithful readers and reviewers! I apologize again for the lapse before the previous chapter...but I am so glad that you guys are all still with me!_**

**_Things come full circle in this chapter...literally. If the beginning sounds familiar to some of my loyal readers, I did that on purpose!! I hope you like the life I am beginning to carve out for our dear Maggie in this chapter..._**

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**Chapter Thirty Six - The First Day of the Rest of Her Life**

_September 3, 1998 _

_The First Day of Harry's Seventh Year at __Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..._

"Who do you think is actually more nervous today…you or the students?"

Maggie Thompson looked up from her desk to see Sirius leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe of her classroom, with that devilish and sexy grin plastered across his handsome face. She had known him for about a year now and loved him for almost as long, but seeing him standing there unexpectedly was still enough to take her breath away.

"What are you doing here?" The petite blond teacher asked, an easy smile spreading across her perfectly painted lips as she stood up to slide into her lover's waiting arms. Snaking her arms around his neck and greeting him with a soft kiss, she asked, "Shouldn't you be at the Ministry training the next generation of dark wizard catchers with Tonks and the rest of the Aurors?"

Sirius held up his hand, snapped his fingers, and suddenly a brown paper sack appeared out of nowhere as he grinned and informed her, "You left this morning without your lunch. And since I know you are a bit nervous about your first day of school and have never experienced a meal in the Great Hall, I thought you might want some comfort food."

"I experienced the food in the Great Hall during the Sorting Ceremony," Maggie reminded him, grabbing the paper bag and opening it curiously. Smiling widely, she looked up and asked, "You added an apple to my lunch?"

"It's a magic apple." Sirius teased, dropping a sweet kiss on her nose. "For the teacher."

When their lips parted, the petite blond sighed and whispered, "You can be so sweet sometimes."

"Shhh…don't let that get around. I have a murderous, stark raving mad ex-con reputation to uphold." he shot back, his eyes twinkling mischievously. Then, regarding her seriously, Sirius asked curiously, "Are you really _that_ nervous?"

"Yes, I am really _that_ nervous."

"You have nothing to worry about. You are a fabulous teacher." Sirius reassured his lover serenely. "Or so I've heard from a reliable source."

"Yes, well Harry is a bit biased," Maggie laughed, moving away from him and setting her lunch sack on a nearby desk. "And it will be so nice to see him sitting in the front row of my classroom again. But this is a whole new situation for me. I mean, teaching fifth years in a primary school is something I can do. What do I know about Muggle Studies…?"

"Well, the fact that you are a Muggle helps immensely…"

Ignoring his interruption, Maggie continued, "These students know magic! And I don't. And what's more, they know I don't know magic! It's going to be hard to instill discipline in a classroom where the students know they hold the upper hand…"

"Down girl!" Sirius half-barked and half laughed as his sparkling eyes watched her with amusement. "You are getting yourself too worked up. And I like to be the only one to get you worked up…"

"Sirius…"

"Maggie," he shot back in an annoyingly mocking tone and then added earnestly, "Stop worrying. You are a teacher. It is what you were born to do. And you do it better than anyone. Your strength lies in your ability to touch lives…it has nothing to do with instilling discipline or having the upper hand." Moving closer and taking her in his arms again, Sirius put his fingers under Maggie's chin and forced her to look up at him as he asked gently, "Magnolia Lee Thompson, have you not learned anything from this last year? You have faced the truth about Harry being a wizard, you have survived major wizarding battles despite the fact that you have no magical powers, and you have gone toe to toe with the most evil creature in any world." His tone suddenly changed as a smile broke out on his face and he teased, "So are you really going to stand here and tell me that after all of that you are frightened by a group of seventeen year old wizards who will probably fall madly in love with you upon first sight?"

Maggie looked up at him and felt her heart surge at his words. She couldn't believe how very much she loved this man.

"I didn't say I was frightened," Maggie scolded playfully, a slow smile spreading across her face. "I said I was nervous."

"My mistake…" Sirius answered, another smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I love you so much, Sirius Black." she murmured, tilting her face up higher and eagerly accepting the kiss he placed on her waiting lips. The kiss was longer and more passionate than Maggie had anticipated, but she was not complaining. Kissing this man was one of her favorite past times…

The sound of someone clearing their throat a little too loudly broke through Maggie's haze of contentment and, remembering that she and Sirius were in her classroom at Hogwarts and not the bedroom at Grimmauld Place, she pulled away from their embrace awkwardly and turned to face the intrusive noise.

"Am I interrupting something?"

The drawl of Severus Snape was unmistakable and Maggie knew she must have been blushing eighteen different shades of red when she saw him standing in the same doorway that Sirius had been leaning against only a few moments before.

As Maggie tried to regain her composure, Sirius - who was never lacking composure - smirked at his former adversary and cracked, "It's called snogging, Snivellus. You have heard of it, haven't you? In fact, it would probably do you some good to grab Sybil Trelawney in that hidden classroom of hers and do some…"

"Excuse us, Headmaster." Maggie interrupted, shooting evil darts from her eyes at her lover and stepping in front of him. Facing Severus and smoothing out her skirt, the young teacher nervously smiled up at the newcomer and continued, "We didn't know anyone was here. It won't happen again."

"I beg to differ…" Sirius began in amusement, but quickly quieted down when Maggie's spiked heel came down hard on his unsuspecting foot.

"See that it doesn't, Miss Thompson." The Headmaster scolded, watching with cold, dark eyes as Sirius held his injured foot in his hand and made a show of hopping around on his good leg. "You don't need any unnecessary distractions on your first day."

"No, sir…"

"Sir?" Sirius smirked, raising his eyebrow at the pair. "That must make you feel very important indeed, Snivellu-…"

"Did you need to see me about something, Headmaster?" Maggie interrupted, making a threatening motion toward Sirius' other foot with her deadly heel.

Severus looked from Maggie to Sirius and then back again before he pulled some papers out from beneath his robes and handed them to her as he said, "Your lesson plans are very good, Miss Thompson. Although you might have been too ambitious in your plans for the first years…many of them will have no prior experience with Muggles and will need a more basic understanding of the entire concept."

Taking the lesson plans that he handed her, Maggie nodded and agreed, "I will be sure that the first lesson is very basic, sir. Anything else?"

Glancing around the classroom that Maggie had decorated with posters and other interesting Muggle paraphernalia, Snape nodded curtly and turned for the door. As he headed back out into the corridor, he called back to her, "If you need anything, ask one of the staff. They will be more than willing to help as I will be concerned with other matters today."

"Thank you, Headmaster."

"_Thank you, Headmaster_," Sirius mocked with a shake of his head as Maggie turned to face him. "I still can't believe that they appointed Severus Snape as the Headmaster of Hogwarts. He doesn't even like this place, let alone the students who attend school here."

"It's his home…"

"His home is under a rock somewhere out in the Forbidden Forest…"

"He saved our lives, Sirius." Maggie reminded him, moving around him to put her lesson plans on her desk. Looking up pointedly, she added, "And he's my new boss. So, please try to show him some respect."

"Respect?" The animagus sputtered, picking up a basketball from a nearby table and spinning it in his large hands. "I don't care what happened at Malfoy Manor. It will be a long time before I have any kind of respect for that sniveling, little snake. Why didn't they ask Minerva to be Head Mistress?"

"They did," Maggie reminded him with a frown, "but she was ready to retire. Losing Dumbledore and all those students in the final battles was more difficult for her than she let on. I think a little peace and quiet will do her good. Besides, it's not like she's far away. She moved into a room above the Hog's Head to be closer to Aberforth."

"And took a job at the Ministry...in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement office, of all places." Sirius added as he nodded in agreement, and then said, "But I still can't believe that you and Remus both have to work for that man. No job is worth that…" Looking up at her, he asked, "What is this thing called again?"

Maggie grinned at his abrupt change in subject and answered, "A basketball. It will help me make the connection between Muggle games and Quidditch."

"Ah, Quidditch…something that every good wizard can relate to." Putting down the basketball and leaning back against the table, he asked, "When is Gryffindor's first match? I can't wait to see Harry and Ginny and Ron in action."

Maggie checked the schedule that she had hanging on a cork board behind her desk and told him, "A week from Saturday. Would you like to be my guest and sit with me in the Gryffindor bleachers to watch the game? It's one of the perks of working here, you know."

"Absolutely," Sirius agreed with a grin, sidling over to her and smirking sexily, "And speaking of perks…"

Batting his eager hands away, Maggie hissed, "Stop that, Sirius. What if Snape comes in here again? It will be…"

"It will be very informative for him," Sirius cracked, wrapping his arms around Maggie and pulling her close. "I doubt he would know what to do with a woman as beautiful as you, if he could ever find one willing to look past the greasy hair and that nose…"

"Sirius!" Maggie giggled as his lips found the sensitive skin just behind her earlobe. Allowing herself one last second to enjoy his kisses, she quickly pulled away and put a bit of distance between them. "Stop. I have to get ready and that is not helping." Pulling on the robes that Maggie and Ginny had helped her pick out in Diagon Alley, she turned to look at him and asked, "How do I look?"

"Beautiful, as always." He told her honestly and then quipped, "You have brought to life all of my schoolboy fantasies about what it would be like to be all alone in an empty classroom with a beautiful teacher and…"

"I said, stop it!" Maggie chastised, blushing again. She moved back around her desk and began shuffling things around in her nervous attempts to look busy. But she could feel his eyes on her the entire time. Finally, she looked up and asked, "What?"

"Actually, now that you mention it," Sirius began as he moved over to join her behind the desk, "there is one thing missing…"

"What?" Maggie asked in alarm, looking down at her ensemble to see if she had missed any buttons or belt loops.

"This."

Maggie looked back up in confusion to see her lover holding out a small black velvet box. The box was so small that the only thing that could possibly fit inside would be a…

Maggie inhaled sharply and her hands flew to her face when she realized what was happening. Glancing over at him, she asked in a shaky voice, "What is that?"

Grinning like an idiot, Sirius replied smoothly, "Open it and find out."

With trembling hands the beautiful young Muggle reached out and took the gift that he offered. He watched her expectantly as she lifted the lid to reveal the most perfect diamond and sapphire engagement ring in the entire universe. Tears sprung to Maggie's eyes as she looked up at him.

"Sirius…" she whispered, barely able to catch her breath.

"Do you like it?" he asked hesitantly, not sure he could truly read her expression. "Ginny helped me pick it out, but if you don't like it we could exchange it for…"

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Well, that's fitting," he answered in a husky voice as he removed the ring from the box and lifted her left hand in his, "since you are the most beautiful thing _**I've**_ ever seen."

Maggie could barely feel her feet touching the floor as he placed the ring on her third finger and began, "I'll be the first to admit that we didn't exactly meet under the best of circumstances. In fact, you could even say we got off on the wrong foot completely. And that's because you caught me completely off-guard that day, and truthfully, every day since then. At this point last year, I felt as if I had nothing left to live for…like my life was over. But since you came along my life has been nothing short of an exciting, challenging, sometimes frustrating...but always rewarding...adventure, and I wouldn't trade a single second of it for all the Galleons in the world."

The emotion began to creep into his voice and Maggie thought she felt his hands tremble as he held hers, but he continued steadily, "I adore everything about you, Magnolia Lee Thompson. There are the things that are so very obvious to those who know you, like your spirit and that fiery, take-no-prisoners approach to life that you have. I've never seen a challenge that you've refused to meet head on, nor one you haven't managed to master and overcome. But then there are the things that only those of us who have the privilege of being close to you can see...like the way you immediately reach out to those you love when they are in pain and need the reassurance only you can give. And the way you laugh, fully and without holding back, making us all laugh along with you. I love the way you smile when you're around children, and the gentleness in your voice when you read baby Teddy a bedtime story while we're babysitting him and I can imagine what an amazing mother you will be to our children someday..."

"You have imagined us having children?" Maggie asked in astonishment, the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Wiping her tears away with a gentle finger, Sirius smiled and replied, "I have imagined us having everything we want in this world. Because when you look at me like you look at no other person on this earth, I imagine all of my wildest dreams coming true. No one else can say my name and bring a smile to my face just from the mere sound of it. No one. I want to become a husband with you and then a father to our children and take each step along this journey, even the ones filled with pain and frustration and misunderstandings, with you. You have touched my life in ways that are beyond explanation and my world is a better place because you are a part of it. So, Magnolia Lee Thompson, will you do me the tremendous honor of becoming my wife?"

The silence that filled the classroom following his proposal was deafening. Maggie kept looking back and forth between Sirius' handsome face and the beautiful ring glittering up from her finger. She couldn't believe this was happening.

"Magnolia," Sirius' uneven voice reached her ears and Maggie looked at him again as he teased, "A reaction would be lovely."

At his words, Maggie simply threw her head back and began to laugh. Not the school girl giggles or squeals that most women let out when their handsome prince has just asked them to spend forever with him. But a deep throated, full bodied laugh that shook her entire body.

Confused by her reaction, Sirius' face turned sour and he muttered, "This is not funny. I am completely vulnerable here..."

Finally regaining her composure, Maggie gently stroked his cheek with her hand and assured him, "Of course not, my love. I am not laughing at you. Or your beautiful proposal."

"So, then why are you laughing?"

Wiping the tears of happiness from her eyes, Maggie grinned and told him, "I am imagining the look on my parents faces when I tell them that, instead of a doctor or a lawyer, they are getting a Dark Wizard catching ex-con who can turn himself into a dog for a son-in-law!"

Sirius looked at her oddly for a moment and then threw his head back and joined in her laughter. "We should sell tickets!" he barked in delight.

When the couple had finally had enough laughter, Sirius took his Magnolia in his arms and drew her close as he asked, "So, is that a yes?"

Maggie looked up at her handsome wizard prince and, with love shining from her eyes, replied, "Looking back, I think I loved you from the very beginning, as if you had always carried around a piece of my heart that was lost and finally found the day we met." Leaning up to seal their engagement with a kiss, she breathed, "Yes, my beloved, that is most definitely a yes."


	37. Epilogue: A Life More Ordinary

**Hello everyone! I had always planned on doing an epilogue chapter to this story, but I got a little sidetracked by life. But I've had some time recently to write it up and now it is time to share it with you. This is nothing more than a little fluffy look into what I think Maggie and Sirius' lives would be like ten years down the road. It is a simple and ordinary look at their lives...which is exactly what I would think Sirius would want after all that he has been through. So, I hope that I didn't stray too far from his character...but he ten years older now and a happily married father!**

**I did not keep the dates the same as JKR in this epilogue as I think James Potter would have been born to Harry and Ginny by now and that is not true in my version. Plus, the Lupin's are all alive and well, etc. **

**I know some people have criticized my earlier chapters for not being English enough...but my only excuse is that I am an American mom. So, beware that this chapter is pretty "Americanized" since that is what I know. But I figure that families are families all around the world.**

* * *

**Epilogue - A Life More Ordinary**

_Sirius and Maggie Black's Country Estate, Somewhere in the English Countryside_

_Ten Years Later…_

"That's not how mummy does it."

Sirius Black let out a dramatic sigh as he glanced over at his 8-year-old daughter, Sarah, as she sat perched on a stool in the welcoming kitchen of the Black family home and watched him break eggs into a mixing bowl. Eyeing her suspiciously, Sirius answered, "How does mummy do it?"

"Well, for starters," Sarah's twin brother, Remus, chimed in sarcastically, looking into the mixing bowl and grinning at his father, "she doesn't put the egg shells into the cake mix. She usually leaves them on the _outside_ of the bowl."

Sirius smirked and threw a nearby dish towel at him playfully. "Don't you have homework or something to do?"

"Nope." Remus answered, watching his father pick the egg shells out of the mixing bowl with his fingers. "I did it already."

"When?"

"Before." Remus answered nonchalantly, opening the refrigerator door and scanning the contents for a snack. The Animagus was about to question his son further when a sudden outburst caught his attention instead.

"Reg! Stop it! I was watching that!"

5-year-old Arabella's cry from the living room caused Sirius to put his mixing spoon down and head into the adjoining room. "What's going on in here?"

Arabella, curled up like a cat in the corner of the sofa, looked up at him with her bright blue eyes and said, "Regulus keeps changing the channel on the telly. I want to watch the bear show and he keeps playing with the remote."

Sirius removed the remote control from 3-year-old Regulus' hands, causing the small boy to paste a pout onto his adorable little face.

"Don't give me that look, Regulus James." Sirius warned his youngest son, handing the remote back to Arabella. "Your sister is sick and has to rest. So, she gets to watch her show."

"I wanna watch sumpin else." Regulus pouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Sirius knew that look. It usually preceded a temper tantrum.

"There is a perfectly good television in the nursery. Go watch up there." The wizard answered, leaning down to kiss Arabella's fevered forehead and then asked her quietly, "How are you feeling, pumpkin?"

"Sleepy." She answered, laying back down and allowing her father to pull the blanket up around her again.

"Is your tummy still upset?"

The tiny, blond child shook her head and then asked, "Will you watch the telly with me?"

Sirius smiled gently at her and whispered, "I promised mummy that I would make dessert for tonight. As soon as I get that situation under control, I'll come in and watch with you. Okay?"

Arabella smiled agreeably and hugged her teddy bear as Sirius dropped another kiss on her forehead and headed back into the kitchen, with Regulus hot on his heels.

"I don't wanna to watch in the nursery." Regulus whined, following his father back into the kitchen. "No one else is up there."

"Remus will go up with you." Sirius suggested, watching Sarah take over his job of picking broken egg shells out of the cake mix. He grinned at her and flicked his wand so that the portion of batter that had already been de-shelled began to pour itself into sections of a muffin tin.

"I'm not going up there with him." his oldest son answered, taking a big bite of the apple he had chosen for a snack. "I don't watch the telly afterschool."

"Since when?" Sirius asked, continuing to watch the sections of the muffin tin as they were filled with cake batter.

"I don't know." Remus shrugged and watched his father closely before informing him, "Mum usually puts those little paper things in the tin before she puts the batter in."

"And she doesn't fill them that full." Sarah added, licking batter off of her fingers. "Mum only fills them up half way."

"Well mum isn't here. So, we're doing it my way." Sirius answered testily. He was tired of getting cooking advice from eight year olds.

Two hours ago, Sirius had gotten a message at the Ministry from his wife telling him that Arabella was sick and she needed to be picked up from her primary school in London. Since Maggie was stuck in a faculty meeting at Hogwart's, it was up to Sirius to pick Arabella, Remus, and Sarah up from school and take them home. And oh, by the way, could he make some cupcakes for dessert tonight? Harry and Ginny were coming over for supper and a very pregnant Ginny was always craving chocolate cupcakes.

So Sirius Black…a gifted and powerful wizard, not to mention a high ranking and well respected Auror…was spending the afternoon taking care of his five children and making cupcakes. He shook his head at the absurdity of it all. If James could only see him now…

"I want to watch the telly!!" Regulus suddenly shouted, stomping his foot on the kitchen floor and shaking Sirius back into reality.

"Don't start that nonsense, little man." Sirius warned his son, scooting him out of the way as he flicked his wand to open the oven door. He placed two tins of cupcakes into the oven, shut the door, and checked the box of cake mix to see how long to set the timer.

"Come upstairs with me!" Regulus said, pulling on Remus' arm. But the elder Black boy was having none of it.

"Get off me." the elder of the two brothers scowled, shaking his little brother off his arm.

"Come with me!" Regulus demanded, pulling harder on Remus. Fed up, Remus gave his brother a shove and sent him sprawling backwards onto his rear end on the kitchen floor. Regulus looked surprised for a moment before opening his mouth and beginning to wail.

"Boys!" Sirius snapped, squatting down next to Regulus.

"He pushed me." Regulus cried, as if his father hadn't witnessed the entire event.

"He was pulling on me!" Remus protested, watching his dad gather Regulus into his arms and sit him on the kitchen counter.

Once Sirius was sure that Regulus wasn't hurt, he looked sternly at his younger son. "He shouldn't have pushed you, but you were pulling on him."

"And acting like a brat." Sarah muttered, stirring the batter that remained in the mixing bowl.

"I am not a brat." Regulus informed her.

"You," Sirius warned Sarah, "stay out of it. I can be the dad all by myself. And you," he looked over at Remus, who was thinking he was going to escape this situation without getting into trouble, "stop shoving your brother. And you," Sirius turned back to look at Regulus, "need to settle down."

"I want to watch the telly." Regulus told him.

"We've heard. Ten times now." Remus answered, rolling his eyes.

Sirius threw Remus another warning look and the eight year old wisely kept any further comments to himself. Turning back to Regulus, he said, "We've already been over this. You have three choices...you can go watch with your sister in the living room or you can watch upstairs in the nursery. Or," Sirius' voice turned stern as he gave out the third option, "you can go sit in the corner until you can remember how to behave. Which is it going to be?"

"Will you make Remus come to the nursery with me?"

"Your brother doesn't want to go upstairs to the nursery with you. He wants to stay here and annoy me." Sirius answered. "So, if you go upstairs it will be by yourself."

Regulus was quiet for a minute and Sirius could see that he was weighing his choices in his head. He got that same reflective look on his face that Maggie got on hers when she was thinking about things. Finally, Regulus said, "I'll go watch with Bella."

"Good choice." Sirius agreed, lifting him down off the counter and swatting him on the rump as he left the kitchen. Sirius was just about to go back to the cupcakes when the shrill ringing of the telephone ripped through the kitchen.

"I'll get it!" Remus and Sarah yelled at the same time. But it was Remus who reached the phone first and stuck out his tongue at his sister as he held the receiver up to his ear. "Hello?"

Sarah returned to her perch on one of the kitchen barstools as Remus said, "Hi, Uncle Arthur." He paused and then said, "I'm helping dad make cupcakes." Remus paused again and then grinned and said, "Not too good. He left the egg shells in the batter."

"Traitor." Sirius muttered, just imagining the laugh that Arthur Weasley was having at his expense. Both for making cupcake and for leaving the eggshells in the batter.

Remus continued talking to the red-headed patriarch of the Weasley clan, saying, "Regulus is being a brat. He made me..."

"I am **NOT **a brat!" Regulus yelled from the living room as Sirius finally decided to take the phone from Remus' clutches.

"Hello, Arthur." Sirius said into the phone, cradling the receiver between his ear and his shoulder as he wiped his hands on the dishtowel he had thrown at Remus earlier. "How is the situation with the items we confiscated from The Malfoy Manor? Did you find anything suspicious?"

Being married to a Muggle and raising children who were half-Muggle meant that the Black home was well equipped with all of the latest Muggle technology, much to Arthur Weasley's delight. So while the rest of the Wizarding world contacted Sirius and Maggie through normal means, Arthur never missed the opportunity to call on the telephone that Maggie had given him as a Christmas gift years ago. Sirius suspected that sometimes Arthur created reasons to call him at home just so he could use the damn telephone.

Sirius's dark eyes scanned the messy kitchen and the various children milling around, bored to tears, as he listened to Arthur prattle on. They were on the phone for a good twenty minutes when he noticed that Sarah was peering curiously into the oven.

"Dad!" she called from her spot in front of the oven. "I think you might need to..."

"Hold on, Sarah." Sirius hushed her as he tried to keep up with what Arthur was saying.

"But dad…" Sarah said again, this time with more urgency. "I think you need to come here."

"Give me one second, Sarah Jane..."

But before he could finish his sentence, the smoke detector above the refrigerator began going off. Sirius looked over at the smoke wafting out of the oven where the cupcakes were baking. It was what Sarah had been trying to tell him.

The sound of the smoke detector set off a chain of misfortunate events. The sound jolted Arabella awake from her nap and sent the family dog, Prongs, into protective mode and he began barking. Arabella covered her ears and began to cry so Jack, in turn, turned the volume up on the television so that he could hear over all of the noise.

"Arthur!" Sirus yelled into the phone. "I'm going to have to call you back!"

Harry's godfather hung up the phone and sprang into action. Grabbing a nearby broom, he hit the reset button on the smoke detector and stopped the awful screeching sound.

"Go open the back door and let some of this smoke out into the yard." He commanded Remus and then looked at Sarah and said, "Go see if you can settle your sister down."

Without thinking, or using magic, Sirius yanked open the door to the oven and grabbed the closest muffin tin.

"Damn!" He yelped, burning his fingertips on the hot pan. He grabbed a nearby pot holder and pulled the uncooked cakes out of the oven. They had spilled over the tins and made a huge, burnt mess on the bottom of the oven.

"Daddy said a swear word!" Regulus informed everyone with a big grin.

"I told you that you filled them too full." Sarah remarked from the living room where she was getting Arabella and Prongs settled back down onto the couch.

Sirius bit back his sharp comeback just as Remus came skipping back into the kitchen with his mother following close behind.

"What is going on in here?" Maggie demanded, surveying her dirty kitchen as Regulus came running in and threw himself into her arms. Swinging her youngest son up onto her hip, she turned to Sirius and smirked while he scowled and asked, "Did we have a good afternoon?"

"Remind me to thank Snivellus for holding a faculty meeting on an afternoon when our daughter got sick at school and I had just pawned my paperwork off on Harry and Tonks." Sirius muttered, sucking on his burned finger. "Tell me, was the meeting planned in advance or did he suddenly call for it when he learned that you were needed at home?"

"You can't blame this one on Headmaster Snape, darling," Maggie laughed breezily, dropping a kiss on Sarah's nose and tousling Remus' already messy hair. "This little situation seems to be all you." Putting Regulus down and moving over to her husband, she tenderly took his burnt finger in her hands and asked, "Can I help?"

Sirius' dark eyes sparkled as Maggie raised his finger to her lips and kissed it gently.

"Better?" she asked, smiling seductively up at her husband. He was still wearing his work clothes, his hair was messy and tousled from running his hands through it, and Maggie thought he looked just as sexy now as he had the day she first laid eyes on him.

"I think I burned my lip, too." He whispered, pulling her into his arms for her welcome home kiss. She ran her hand up his arm, and they both closed their eyes simultaneously as he began trailing sweet kisses down her neck. God, he could never get enough of this woman.

"Aw, my poor baby." She teased, leaning her head back and enjoying the feel of his warm mouth on her sensitive skin. Pulling his mouth back up to hers, their lips met again in a sexy kiss.

A not so subtle groan was heard from behind them, and then a sarcastic voice said, "Um, hello! Kids in the room! Could you stop please?"

Sirius and Maggie smirked as they pulled apart and looked over at Remus, as Sirius remarked, "Consider yourself lucky, kid. My parents couldn't even stand to be in the same room together. One day you'll understand how good you've got it."

Remus' reply was cut off by the sound of crying coming over the baby monitor on the counter. Smiling sweetly up at her husband, Maggie said, "Your daughter is calling for you."

"So, this time she is **my **daughter?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrow at his wife.

Maggie nodded and replied, "Yes. Because at 2 o'clock this morning she was **my **daughter…when you didn't want to get out of bed for her feeding."

"Okay, but if she's stinky..." Sirius' voice trailed off as he headed down the hall and up the stairs to collect the fifth Black child, four month old Molly Jane.

Maggie chuckled and shook her head as she headed into the family room to check on Sirius' young patient.

"Mummy!" The five-year-old little girl cried from the sofa, perking up at the sight of her mother coming into the family room.

"How are you feeling, little one?" Maggie asked, sitting down next to her on the sofa and instinctively feeling her feverish forehead. "Did daddy take good care of you?"

"Mmm-hmm." Arabella nodded, smiling up at her mother. "I got to watch the telly and Regulus couldn't change the channel."

"Ah, yes," Maggie grinned, "The famous telly cure…works every time. Is your tummy still upset or do you feel up to having dinner with us tonight? Harry and Ginny are coming."

Perking up instantly, Arabella assured her mother, "I'm fine. Will you do my hair in braids? Harry says I look cute in braids."

"I'll do them." The always helpful Sarah replied before Maggie had the chance, coming into the living room and plopping down in a nearby chair.

"No." Arabella refused, shaking her head. "I want mummy."

"I can do them." Sarah said, placing her hands on her hips. "I did my ponytail by myself. See?"

Sarah turned around so her sister could inspect her ponytail. But Arabella was not impressed. Again she shook her head, and said, "I want ribbons."

"Sarah can do ribbons," Maggie informed her middle daughter, "I used to put ribbons in her braids and I taught her how."

"But I want you to do it!" Arabella whined, looking at her mother.

"Okay, but not right now. I have to get dinner started and see if I can salvage the mess your father made out of dessert." Maggie told her, getting up off the sofa and heading back into the kitchen. "But let Sarah brush the tangles out of your hair so we can save time."

"What's for dinner?" Regulus asked, wandering into the kitchen with his mother.

"Chicken, you dope. Didn't you see it sitting on the counter to defrost all afternoon?" Remus asked, pointing to the chicken that was indeed thawing out in front of them.

"I'm not a dope." Regulus retorted, smacking his brother on the leg.

"No, you're not." Maggie interjected, giving Remus a stern look. "Watch your mouth. And you," she warned, pointing at Regulus, "don't hit your brother."

"Sorry." Both boys said at the same time.

"I don't want chicken." Remus complained, climbing up onto a stool to watch his mother begin cooking. "I want pork chops."

"Well, we're having chicken." Maggie answered, placing the chicken in a roasting pan and pulling out a knife to begin chopping vegetables. "Close your eyes and pretend that it's pork chops."

"Why can't we have pork chops?" Remus grumbled, grabbing a carrot that his mother had placed on the counter and chomping down on it.

"Because your mother is making chicken." Sirius answered, returning to the kitchen with baby Molly in his arms. "So, you're eating chicken."

"A little help here?" Maggie asked, making a silly face at her baby daughter as Sirius shifted her into his other arm and pulled his wand out of his pocket. He dutifully flicked his wand and charmed the knife to begin chopping the vegetables that his wife had laid out on the counter while Maggie occupied herself with seasoning the chicken.

"I do love magic." Maggie grinned as she continued getting dinner ready.

_**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox  
**_

"Maggie, that was a delicious dinner." Harry remarked, wiping his mouth with his napkin and grinning at his former teacher turned surrogate mother across the table.

"As usual," Ginny agreed, finishing off her third helping of potatoes and rubbing the baby bump that sat where her tiny waist had once been.

"Sirius helped." Maggie said as she smiled at the pair.

"Yeah, after he cleaned the cupcake batter off the bottom of the oven." Remus supplied in his sarcastic tone.

"You are so lucky that you are sitting at the other end of the table." Sirius smirked at his son and then said, "Dinner was a team effort. I chopped the vegetables and your mother made..."

"Everything else." Maggie finished for him with a laugh, holding a fussy baby Molly on her lap as she took another bite of her potato. She had relieved Sirius of mommy duty when she got home and while he spent some quality time with his children, Maggie got to work in the kitchen on the roasted carrots and potatoes, salad, and dinner rolls that would complete their meal.

"And then she saved dessert." Sarah said as she took a sip of her milk. "Daddy tried to make cupcakes but he had a little…"

"…disaster." Remus added again and then ducked when his father threw an uneaten roll at him.

"It was not a disaster!" Sirius explained to Harry and Ginny, who were looking at him with amused expressions on their faces. "I simply…"

"…tried to burn down the house." Remus interrupted again with a grin, causing Harry to laugh at his godfather.

"Actually," Maggie said, coming to her husband's rescue, "dessert is a bit of a surprise tonight. But," she looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall and continued, "we're going to have to wait about an hour. Just enough time to get everything cleaned up."

"That sounds like our cue." Harry said, standing up with his plate and heading toward the sink.

"Harry, you are our guest. You don't have to do that." Maggie protested.

"He's not a guest." Sirius said with a grin. "He's family. There's a difference."

"Plus, you have a baby in your arms and I don't." Harry said, stopping next to Maggie's chair and planting a soft kiss on the top of Molly's head. "So I think I can handle carrying a few plates to the sink." Winking at Ginny, he added, "Because I will have a baby of my own to fill up these empty arms soon enough."

Ginny smiled back at her husband grabbed a last bite of chicken off her plate before Harry removed it, causing both Maggie and Ginny to giggle. The enormous appetite that accompanied eating for two was something that Maggie was quite familiar with.

"Okay, homework time." Maggie announced, shifting Molly to her shoulder as she followed her crew into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle out of the refrigerator. She placed it on the stove to heat up while Sirius and Harry waved their wands to begin the kitchen clean up.

"I already did mine." Remus informed her, following Harry's every movement with his eyes.

"When?" Maggie asked him skeptically, as Sarah climbed up onto one of the kitchen barstools and began to unpack her booksack.

"At school," he replied with a shrug, "While we waited for dad to pick us up."

"No." Maggie said, shaking her head. "Let me see it."

"I'm not lying, mum." Remus protested.

"I didn't say you were. But I want to see it." Maggie said, taking the bottle off the stove and testing the temperature of the milk on her wrist. "Any homework done in the hallway needs to have the mommy seal of approval."

Remus scowled, but went to get his booksack anyway. Maggie took Molly and her bottle and went into the family room to sit with Arabella, who had curled back up on the sofa during dinner when her tummy began to hurt again. "Hey, pretty girl. How are you feeling?"

Arabella looked up sleepily at her mother and said, "Better."

"Do you want to try and eat something?" Maggie asked, settling into her favorite chair and shifting Molly into the feeding position.

"Daddy gave me some crackers and ginger ale." She mumbled, pulling her blanket up around her. "I didn't throw it up."

"Well, that's good." Maggie said as Molly greedily sucked on her dinner bottle. "Maybe we'll try to give you a little chicken soup before bed. See how that feels in your tummy."

Arabella smiled her answer as Remus came into the family room with his homework folder.

"Here's my arithmetic." He said, showing her his math homework paper. "And my spelling. Happy now?"

Maggie scanned the papers that her son held in front of her and said, "You know, I think Mr. Poole will be much happier with your spelling paper if he could actually read what you wrote." She frowned at him and said, "Redo the spelling."

"Mum!"

"You can't hand in a spelling paper where the only word that is legible is your name." Maggie scolded. "And you spelled that wrong. Remus has an 'm' in it….not an 'n'."

Remus rolled his eyes and dramatically went back into the kitchen to join his sister at the homework counter, muttering something snide about having a mother who was a teacher. Maggie smiled as she heard him relating what she had said to Harry, Ginny, and Sirius. Looking down at Molly, she asked, "In what universe did he think I was going to let him hand in a paper that looked like that, hmmm? For a smart kid, your brother can be a real bubble brain sometimes."

"Bubble brain." Arabella repeated with a giggle.

Maggie looked over at her and smiled a secretive smile. "Don't tell him I said that, okay?" she whispered and the little girl nodded at their secret.

"Mummy!" Regulus came running into the family room with a big grin on his face. "Can I go out and play?"

Maggie glanced out the living room window and shook her head. "No. It's getting dark. Plus, you need a bath. We let you go without one last night."

Regulus pasted a pout on his face as Harry came into the room and said, "I'll take him up for a bath. Sirius kicked me out of the kitchen and Ginny is helping out with homework, so I'm free."

Maggie shook her head and smiled up at him. "Harry, when we invited you over for dinner we weren't looking for a chore boy. Sit down and relax. We can handle it."

"I want to." Harry reassured her with a smile. "I need the practice." He rubbed his hands together, and looked down at Regulus. "Okay, Reg, are you ready to have a bath?"

Regulus looked up at him skeptically and then asked, "Can it be a bubble bath?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay!" Regulus agreed, pasting a smile on his face and heading for the stairs. "Race ya!"

Maggie moved Molly up to her shoulder to burp her as Sirius entered the living room behind her and leaned down to kissed her tenderly.

"Hi." he whispered sexily against her lips.

"Hi," she whispered back. "Thank you for taking care of things today. It was a big help."

"And I will be exacting my payment for that help later when we are alone." Sirius whispered, moving in for another kiss. Their sexy kiss was interrupted by the sudden popping sound of someone apparating into the front room.

"Go away." Sirius muttered against her lips and Maggie let out a giggle as he moved away from her and headed to see who had arrived.

"Done." Remus said, coming into the family room and handing his mother his spelling paper.

"Much better." She replied, scanning the newly written paper and ruffling his hair. "Now, go put this away and hang up your booksack."

"Look who I found wandering around in the parlor." Sirius said, coming back into the room with the Lupin family in tow…Remus, Tonks, and Teddy.

"Wotcher, Maggie." Tonks called out, coming into the family room with a brightly colored bakery box. "We brought dessert. A triple chocolate torte from your favorite bakery in London."

"Yum." Maggie said, leaning up and accepting the kiss that her old friend Remus offered.

"Uncle Remus! Aunt Tonks!" Remus and Sarah both said as they came into the family room. Kisses were given all around as Ginny took their dessert into the kitchen. Remus settled himself on the couch and gathered Arabella into his arms, talking to her quietly as only he could.

"Give me that baby." Tonks said, taking Molly out of Maggie's arms and settling herself into the chair Maggie had just vacated. Sarah, who was always completely fascinated by her Aunt Tonks, came around the back of the chair and looped her arms around Tonks' neck and kissed her cheek.

"Hi, darling girl. How are you?" Tonks asked her with a smile.

Sarah's answer was interrupted by a very naked and very sudsy three year old boy running through the family room in a fit of hysterical laughter. Everyone was stunned into silence at first, but then they all began laughing as Harry appeared behind him, a bit out of breath, and said sheepishly, "He escaped."

Sirius grabbed the towel that Harry was holding and took off after his son, hoping that he wouldn't slip on the wooden floors of the kitchen and eating area. Catching up to him in a few short strides, Sirius gathered Regulus up in the towel and carried him back into the family room.

"He's going through a bit of a naked phase right now." Maggie tried to explain through her laughter, putting a hand on Harry's arm. "We forgot to warn you."

Harry simply shook his head in amusement as he watched Sirius carry the towel-clad and wiggling little boy up the stairs to put him in his pajamas. Teddy let out a hearty laugh from his place on the couch and said, "Now that is the best thing that has happened to me all day. That's why I love coming over to visit. There's never a dull moment around here."

Maggie rolled her eyes and made a face at the almost teen-aged boy, prompting a laugh from his father, and looked around the room. She couldn't believe that this was her life. If anyone had ever asked to describe her what her life would be like fifteen years ago, she certainly wouldn't have described the scene before her. But her world and the world that Sirius and Harry lived in converged one fateful night in London and Maggie had never been the same. So here she was…married to a wizard who could turn himself into a dog at will to entertain his children or protect his family, the mother of five amazing children of her own while still maintaining her role as surrogate mum to Harry, and teaching young wizards about amazing and confounding things like televisions and double cheese pizza at a prestigious school that most people didn't even know existed.

And Magnolia Lee Thompson Black loved every single moment of it.

**FYI: These are the names and ages of the Black children as I wrote them in my outline...**

**Remus Alastair - 8**

**Remus Alastair - 8**

**Sarah Ginevra - 8**

**Arabella Rose - 5**

**Regulus James - 3**

**Molly Jane - 4 months**


End file.
